The Trial Of Allibors Tomb
by hosted
The Trial of Allibor's Tomb
by Jeff Sinasac
Go to Introduction and begin your Quest
Read Rules for Play
Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your own strengths and weaknesses. You have in your possession a sword and a backpack containing provisions (food and drink) for the trip. As an adventurer you are constantly training yourself in swordplay and exercising vigorously to build up your stamina.
To see how effective your preparations have been you must use the dice to determine your initial skill and stamina scores. On pages 7-8 there is an Adventure Sheet which you may use to record the details of an adventure. On this sheet you will find boxes for recording your SKILL and STAMINA scores.
You are advised to either record your scores on the Adventure Sheet in pencil, or make photocopies of the page to use in future adventures.
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Skill, Stamina and Luck
Roll one die. Add 6 to this number and enter this total in the SKILL BOX on the Adventure Sheet.
Roll both dice. Add 12 to the number rolled and enter this total in the STAMINA box.
There is also a LUCK box. Roll one die, add 6 to this number and enter this total in the LUCK box.
For reasons that will be explained below, SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores change constantly during an adventure. You must keep an accurate record of these scores and for this reason you are advised either to write small in the boxes or to keep an eraser handy. But never rub out your Initial scores. Although you may be awarded additional SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK points, these totals may never exceed your Initial scores, except on very rare occasions, when you will be instructed on a particular page.
Your SKILL score reflects your swordsmanship and general fighting expertise; the higher the better. Your STAMINA score reflects your general constitution, your will to survive, your determination and overall fitness; the higher your STAMINA score, the longer you will be able to survive. Your LUCK score indicates how naturally lucky a person you are. Luck - and magic - are facts of life in the fantasy kingdom you are about to explore.
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Battles
You will often come across pages in the book which instruct you to fight a creature of some sort. An option to flee may be given, but if not - or if you choose to attack the creature anyway - you must resolve the battle as described below.
First record the creature's SKILL and STAMINA scores in the first vacant Monster Encounter Box on your Adventure Sheet. The scores for each creature are given in the book each time you have an encounter.
The sequence of combat is then:
1. Roll both dice once for the creature. Add its SKILL score. This total is the creature's Attack Strength.
2. Roll both dice once for yourself. Add the number rolled to your current SKILL score. This total is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is higher than that of the creature, you have wounded it. Proceed to step 4. If the creature's Attack Strength is higher than yours, it has wounded you. Proceed to step 5. If both Attack Strength totals are the same, you have avoided each other's blows - start the next Attack Round from step 1 above.
4. You have wounded the creature, so subtract 2 points from its STAMINA score. You may use your LUCK here to do additional damage (as explained later).
5. The creature has wounded you, so subtract 2 points from your own STAMINA score. Again you may use LUCK at this stage (as explained later).
6. Make the appropriate adjustments to either the creature's or your own STAMINA scores (and your LUCK score if you used LUCK - explained later).
7. Begin the next Attack Round by returning to your current SKILL score and repeating steps 1-6. This sequence continues until the STAMINA score of either you or the creature you are fighting has been reduced to zero (death).
Escaping
On some pages you may be given the option of running away from a battle should things be going badly for you. However, if you do run away, the creature automatically gets in one wound on you (subtract 2 STAMINA points) as you flee. Such is the price of cowardice. Note that you may use LUCK on this wound in the normal way (explained later). You may only Escape if that option is specifically given to you on the page.
Fighting More Than One Creature
If you come across more than one creature in a particular encounter, the instructions on that page will tell you how to handle the battle. Sometimes you will treat them as a single monster; sometimes you will fight each one in turn.
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Luck
At various times during your adventure, either in battles or when you come across situations in which you could be lucky or unlucky (details of these are given on the pages themselves), you may call on your luck to make the outcome more favourable. But beware! Using luck is a risky business and if you are unlucky, the results could be disastrous.
The procedure for using your luck is as follows: roll two dice. If the number rolled is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you have been lucky and the result will go in your favour. If the number rolled is higher than your current LUCK score, you have been unlucky and you will be penalized.
This procedure is known as Testing your Luck. Each time your Test your Luck, you must subtract one point from your current LUCK score. Thus you will soon realize that the more you rely on your luck, the more risky this will become.
Using Luck in Battles
On certain pages of the book you will be told to Test your Luck and will be told the consequences of being lucky or unlucky. However, in battles, you always have the option of using your luck either to inflict a more serious wound on a creature you have just wounded, or to minimize the effects of a wound the creature has just inflicted on you.
If you have just wounded the creature, you may Test your Luck as described above. If you are lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound and may subtract an extra 2 points from the creature's STAMINA score. However, if you are unlucky, the wound was a mere graze and you must restore 1 point to the creature's STAMINA (i.e. instead of scoring the normal 2 points of damage, you have now scored only 1).
If the creature has just wounded you, you may Test your Luck to try to minimize the wound. If you are lucky, you have managed to avoid the full damage of the blow. Restore 1 point of STAMINA (i.e. instead of doing 2 points of damage it has done only 1). If you are unlucky, you have taken a more serious blow. Subtract 1 extra STAMINA point.
Remember that you must subtract 1 point from your own LUCK score each time you Test your Luck.
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Codewords
One last thing you should know about is codewords. Occasionally, the text may tell you to record a codeword on your Adventure Sheet. A space has been provided, headed Notes and Codewords. Just jot down the codeword there. Later, another area of the text may ask if you have the codeword requested. If so, instructions will be given as to what to do.
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EQUIPMENT
You will start your adventure with little equipment, but you may find or buy other items during your travels. You are armed with a sword and are dressed in leather armour. You have a backpack to carry any treasures you might come across. You also have a lantern to light your way.
In addition you begin with one special item. To determine what this is, roll 1 die and consult the list below:
1. Knife.
2. Torch.
3. Roll 1 die and gain this many gold pieces.
4. Potion of Skill - restores SKILL points.
5. Potion of Strength - restores STAMINA points.
6. Potion of Fortune - restores LUCK points and adds 1 to Initial LUCK.
If you start with one of the potions, note that they can be taken at any time during your adventure (except when engaged in a Battle). Taking a measure of potion will restore SKILL, STAMINA or LUCK scores to their Initial level (and the Potion of Fortune will add 1 point to your Initial LUCK score before LUCK is restored). Each bottle of potion contains enough for one measure, i.e. the characteristic may be restored once during an adventure. Make a note on your Adventure Sheet when you have used up a potion.
In addition to all of the above you start the adventure with your six provisions.
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HINTS ON PLAY
There is one true way through the Trial and it will probably take you several attempts to find it. Make notes and draw a map as you explore - this map will be invaluable in future adventures and enable you to progress rapidly through to unexplored sections.
Not all areas contain treasure; many merely contain traps and creatures which you will no doubt fall foul of. There are many "wild-goose chase" passages and while you may indeed progress through to your ultimate destination, it is by no means certain that you will find what you are searching for.
It will be realized that entries make no sense if read in numerical order. It is essential that you read only the entries you are instructed to read. Reading other entries will only cause confusion and may lessen the excitement during play.
The one true way involves a minimum of risk and any player, no matter how weak on initial dice rolls, should be able to get through fairly easily.
May the luck of the gods go with you on the adventure ahead!
Begin Adventure!
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In a time eons before you were born, when the black mists of creation still enwrapped the world, some say, a magician named Allibor held rule over his mountain kingdom of Abir. Allibor was a cruel ruler, prone to whimsy and wrath alike, holding his subjects hostage to their own fears, executing swiftly, or torturing slowly, all who dared speak their opposition. He was also a gambling man, and would sometimes pit his poor victims in challenges, in arenas against summoned beasts and demons, or against himself where poor sword arms were never a match for his magic. But Allibor, like all mortals, aged, and death began to appear to him in every nightmarish shadow, creeping about his bed chamber and stalking his dreams. Realizing that death was inevitable, and knowing full well the desecration the people he had ruled would commit upon his deceased body, Allibor decided to preserve his reputation after death, and began construction of a great tomb in which he, and all his wealth, were to be laid. This tomb, designed as a great labyrinth, was stalked with vicious traps and made lair to the most horrid of beasts, in the hopes that trespassers would be forever denied, and that Allibor could escape the revenge of his subjects even in death. True to form, however, Allibor constructed the labyrinth as an admittedly uneven challenge. A path did exist to Allibor's body, and to an exit, but finding either was unlikely.
Unlikely, but not impossible. Fierce though the tomb was, man's greed was tougher, and less than three years after Allibor's death a brave party of adventurers infiltrated the tomb, looting its contents, and tossing the cruel magician's skeletal carcass to the townsfolk. The skull of Allibor was ensconced in a crystal cube and placed on display for all to see. Thus the people had their revenge.
But Allibor's vengeance soon came as well. Not long after the tomb had been looted, and Allibor's head forever displayed in the crystal case, strange noises began emanating from within the tomb. Shrieks and moans and horrid cries all filtered through the night air. And all who investigated these noises were never seen again. Furthermore, Allibor's desecrated body, which had been dropped down a dried well near the centre of town, was reported to be gone from the well, and several townsfolk even made the horrible and ridiculous claims that they had seen the decapitated body pull itself from the well and march back inside the tomb. These claims were dismissed until a dark summer solstice when the circumstances of the tomb were laid plain.
Townsfolk sprang from their beds and hustled outside at the sound of the most horrible shrieking arising from the centre of the village. Only when all of the town had gathered there did the shrieking stop, and by then Allibor had everyone's full attention. It had been Allibor shrieking - Allibor's head, at least - screaming from within the crystal cube where it had been imprisoned. And now that the townsfolk had arrived, the head began to speak.
"You who were my subjects in life, hear now my demands and answer them, or join me in death," the skull hissed. "My resting place has been desecrated, and I have awakened. My rule shall be as iron once more, unless you appease me. At the first of every month you will send into my halls a sacrifice, who shall wander my corridors until killed within. You who have dared to disturb me will now realize that Allibor is your ruler eternal. I shall not rest until one of your number can best me."
With that, the head of Allibor fell silent.
So began the tradition of The Trial. In the mountains of Abir, near the small town of Antir, volunteers have gathered at the first of every month since that time to enter Allibor's tomb and try to best him. In times when volunteers have been found lacking, prisoners have been forced into the tomb at spear point, or unwilling townsfolk have been drawn by lottery to enter. None have yet survived the strange game that Allibor has set up within his tomb, and Antir's infamy, as a place of death and challenge, have grown.
Near to the first of the month you made your way to the town of Antir. Despite the macabre circumstances, there is an air of festivity about the town. The Trial, as the challenge has come to be known, attracts many visitors and spectators each year, and Antir has grown in size and commerce.
Arriving early at your inn on the last night of the month, you decide to go to a nearby tavern. After ordering the cheapest ale available (you are rather low on funds) you seat yourself at a table near the bar. You sit for hours, talking with others, exchanging goblin jokes and reciting tales of adventure. As the alcohol and late hours begin to take effect, your eyes begin drifting shut, and your chin rests upon your palm.
You are startled from your dozing, however, when you hear a struggle behind you. Spinning on your stool you see a foppish and over-dressed man, obviously drunk, wrestling with one of the barmaids. Pawing at her, gripping her hair, he tries to draw her to him.
"Who is that?" you demand of a young man at your side.
The young man shakes his head scornfully and tells you, "That's Owen Wayford, the mayor. Can you believe such a lout runs things around here?"
"Why doesn't somebody help the girl?" you ask.
The man shrugs. "He's the mayor. The richest man in town." With that he turns back to his drink.
Owen Wayford has still been assaulting the girl all this time, and when one of his hooked fingers tears a large gape in the front of the girl's blouse and you see the tears forming in the girl's eyes, you are no longer able to control yourself. You leap to your feet and, knocking the man's questing hands aside, interpose yourself between Antir's mayor and the young barmaid. "Leave the girl alone," you instruct.
"Mind your own affairs," Mayor Wayford states haughtily, and reaches over your shoulder for the girl once more.
This time you grasp his hand, pulling back forcefully, holding it in a vice-like grip. "Leave the girl alone," you repeat.
Owen smiles weakly. He seems to relax momentarily, so you release him, whereupon he draws back a deep breath of air and lets a wad of spit fly into your face. Taking advantage of your moment of surprise, Owen gives you a heavy shove, knocking you back into a table behind you. As you are still getting to your feet he lunges for the girl.
Wiping his spittle from your face, you leap at Owen, grasping him around the neck and throwing him to the ground. When he stands again you draw back and swing your hardest punch which connects with his eye. Owen staggers back from the force, knocking over a table in the process.
The room has fallen silent and all eyes are on the two of you as Owen gets slowly back to his feet. He weaves slightly as he does so and you realize that the man is impossibly drunk. You wonder if you might have taken things too far. Putting one hand out to steady himself along one wall, Owen walks haltingly back to stand in front of you.
"I didn't want this to end in bloodshed," he tells you in a shaky voice, and the scent of whiskey on his breath is heavy and unmistakable. His eyes leave your face and wander over the faces of the others in the tavern. A moment of grave dismay passes briefly through his features, but it is soon replaced by a look of drunken certainty. He looks back to you, a sneer just beginning to form. "You leave me no choice," he tells you.
Owen tears a leather gauntlet from his arm and throws it at your feet. "I challenge you, stranger," he intones. "I challenge you to The Trial. The maze stands ready, chum. Be there at dawn... unless that sword at your side is only to impress the ladies." He lets out a single chuckle then storms past you, his face mixing with a red of rage and embarrassment, knowing that all the eyes in the room are following him as he leaves.
You begin to bend to retrieve the glove, but the barmaid, one hand clutching at the tear in her blouse, stops you with an urgent hand. "Don't," she whispers. "He is drunk. And I would not have you die on my behalf."
"I have to," you tell the girl. "It is why I came." Slowly, you bend and pick up the gauntlet. You accept Owen's challenge. Clutching it close to your chest you walk back to the bar and resume your seat.
"You've got guts," the young man you spoke with earlier tells you. "No one's ever lived through that thing, you know."
"Maybe this time it will be different," you answer calmly.
"No. It won't be," he responds. "And you've got the added burden of Owen's challenge."
"What does that mean?" you ask.
"You don't know? The Trial is tough enough. Like I said, no one has ever survived. A long time ago someone came up with a crazy idea to make it even tougher, though. Two men were having a heated dispute about property. Things were getting really out of hand, murdered livestock, that sort of thing. The magistrate decided to settle the dispute for them. He ordered them both into the labyrinth, and decreed that the first one to make it out alive would win. Sort of a race, you see. And inside the labyrinth, there would be no holds barred. Cheating was not an issue."
"Who won?" you ask.
"The magistrate," the young man chuckles. "Both men died inside, as the magistrate knew they would. Then the magistrate claimed both their land." He looks at you soberly, and shakes his head. "Drink up, my friend," he tells you. "Because this is your last night alive."
You finish your ale, then retire to the inn. You try to sleep, but The Trial is weighing so heavily on your mind that you cannot. You toss and turn fitfully, and dawn comes too soon.
You pick yourself up out of bed and ready your equipment before leaving the inn. Outside, a soft mist has arisen, muting the landscape and lending a surreal quality to all around you. Even the voices of the gawkers who have come to see a walking dead man seem distant, and you hardly notice as the leering crowd, some shouting luck, guide you to the mouth of the labyrinth.
There you see Owen Wayford, standing in the mist, staring at the ground. An advisor whispers to him at your approach and his head lifts in a surprised jerk. He obviously did not expect you to follow through, and now that you have, the dread and fear on his face are apparent. His challenge was made to you in a moment of drunken bravado, and were it not for his status in the town, and the crowd of townfolk gathered around, you are sure that he would suggest you both renege on the challenge. As it is, though, he only nods pompously toward you. A great bruise has arisen on his right eye where you hit him.
A man dressed in heavy robes and the white wig of a magistrate climbs to a small pulpit and addresses you and the crowd. "These two brave souls have made agreement to the challenge of Allibor's labyrinth. The first to exit shall be vindicated in this matter of honour. We wish them both well, for the future of our town rests in their hands, and through their bravery, may the curse of Allibor's Tomb finally be lifted." He raises his hands and a cheer goes through the crowd. You find yourself wondering how many of the townsfolk would honestly be happy to have Allibor's tomb beaten, and what loss to business and tradition this would really mean.
"After you," Owen says, with mocking politeness. He gestures to the gaping cave entrance of Allibor's Tomb.
NOW TURN OVER
You take a moment to light your lantern and then stride into the cavern's entrance. The ground is soft and yielding beneath your feet and as the mist fades, and darkness enwraps you, and the clamour of the excited spectators begins to fade into the distance, you begin to notice more of the details of this long cave. The walls are of natural stone, carved right into one of Abir's mountains, and the slick moisture that runs down them lends a smell of stony rot to the whole area. Your feet make soft noises in the muddy ground, and you hear Owen's footsteps approaching behind you as he jogs to catch up after a last few words with his advisor.
"Allibor was a trickster," he tells you, as he draws even with you, a little out of breath, "and a cruel one. Legends say that this tomb is ever changing, according to his whims, that he is ever conjuring new and bizarre monsters, and laying deadlier traps, even manipulating the laws of reality themselves. None have ever made it out alive, but I have spent my life studying what I could of its outside, and of the lore and history of Allibor and his tomb. You have no chance to best me. I have the home advantage. I'll give you one more chance therefore, to back out, to concede victory to me by default."
You stop in mid-stride and hold out a hand to halt Owen. You look at him sincerely and tell him, "I care nothing for this challenge you have levelled. I came to Antir with one purpose in mind. To take on the challenge of Allibor's Tomb. To beat The Trial that no one has beaten, and to lay a harsh ruler to rest. If you should wish to turn around and walk out that cave mouth, I will bear you no ill will, think no less of you."
Owen's face grows pale, then flushes with pride. He sneers at you and marches deeper into the cavern. You follow.
Moments later your lantern begins to pick up an end to the deep cave ahead, to the north. The natural wall gives way to something obviously man made, heavy brick rising out of the mud. Aligned across the brick wall are five heavy, wooden doors. Their wood is beaded with moisture, but somehow preserved.
Owen casts one final glance at you, then marches up to the western most door, the first in the row. "I'll take this door," he states, with a gallant cast of his hair, and a soft twirl of his purple robes. "Don't follow." With that he steps through.
You stare after him for a moment, feeling an honest regret that a man so obviously ill-suited to this task is probably marching toward his death. You decide to grant him at least this one request, and allow him the first door alone.
You survey the other doors in the lamplight.
If you wish to take the second door turn to 81.
If you wish to take the third door turn to 287.
If you wish to take the fourth door turn to 228.
If you wish to take the fifth door turn to 435.
You back up, ensuring that the massive giants will have to face you individually in the doorframe. Fight them one a time.
First CAVE GIANT SKILL 9 STAMINA 12
Second CAVE GIANT SKILL 10 STAMINA 11
Third CAVE GIANT SKILL 11 STAMINA 9
You may escape at any time after the first combat round by running back down the hallway to the junction and taking the western branch (turn to 503) but because of the GIANTS' powerful blows, you must deduct 4 STAMINA points instead of the usual 2 for fleeing.
If you kill all three GIANTS turn to 253.
You remove your backpack and withdraw the horn. After replacing the pack on your back you raise the horn to your lips and blow into it. A haunting note spreads out through the cavern, echoing in its vast expanse.
You only have to wait a moment before you can make out the distant figure of something moving slowly across the water toward you. In the misty distance, it is difficult to make out what the shape is.
Will you wait to see what it is (turn to 44)? Or will you escape it before it reaches you by leaping into the water and swimming (turn to 291)?
Heaving frantically you manage to roll aside the boulder and duck behind it just before the WYVERN can reach you. The creature is large enough that it is not able to squeeze in behind you, but stops short near the boulder and screeches raucously at you. You turn from it to examine your new surroundings. Turn to 350.
About fifty feet down the corridor, the passage swings to the north again. You follow this and a further seventy feet along the passage turns again to the east, and almost immediately upon rounding this corridor you see that you've come to a junction. The passage continues east and a new branch opens to the south. To the east you can see nothing, but to the south you can make out a shape lying in the middle of the floor. You decide to investigate. Turn to 107.
The door opens. You are standing in the doorway of a room approximately 20 feet by 30 feet wide. The floor and walls are both bare stone, and as you step inside to illuminate the room's far end, your footfalls seem wildly echoic. Devoid of any furniture, the room feels extremely barren. Its only feature is an archway on the north wall, but as you approach this you can see that the archway is filled with a heavy, iron gate. The gate has a small key plate and key hole to one side.
Do you have a copper key? If so, and you would like to try it on this lock, turn to 160.
Otherwise you have no choice but to return to the pendulum room and rethink your options - turn to 269.
This is 6 foot of rope strong enough to bear your weight.
You bring your flaming torch up to a close set of tangled leaves. You are amazed at how readily they catch and the fire spreads quickly, rippling from one vine to the next. Soon the wall of ivy has become a wide wall of raging fire.
You back away, putting as much distance between yourself and the fierce output of heat. The ivy is burning quickly, though, and you know that the flames will soon die away.
There is a thick and noxious smoke billowing from the plant now, too, however, pooling at the ceiling and rolling to fill the corners of the room. You crouch to avoid it at first, hoping the flames will die down before the smoke can grow too thick, and then get right down to the floor as the smoke lowers. It has a powerful odour to it, acrid and sour. You look in the direction of the vent, thinking you can make your escape that way, but the vent is lost in the haze of smoke, and surely filled with smoke as well. It would be a deathtrap by now. You cannot move forward because the flames are still too high.
You are finally forced to lay prostrate on the ground, peering ahead and waiting for the flames to dissipate. But you do not live to see this happen. The fumes given off by the burning poison ivy are highly toxic and you are dead, poisoned, before you even have the chance to suffocate. Your adventure ends here...
The passage carries a long way before swinging to the west again. In the corner, where the southbound corridor meets the west bound corridor there is a small, rolled piece of paper.
Would you like to pick up and unroll the paper? If so, turn to 445.
If not, you may head west by turning to 455.
You seat yourself down in the chair and are amazed at how comfortable it really is, and at how tired you have become already. Immediately the room begins to go dark. Even the light in your lantern flickers and dies. You are about to spring to your feet when you realize a new light is illuminating the room, and that that light comes from the viewscreen. A picture is forming there.
On the screen you see the image of a large ruby. Embedded within the ruby, at its core, is a golden key. The image changes and you are surprised to see yourself standing there, on screen. In your hands is the ruby. You see yourself approaching a pool of some vague, red liquid, and then throwing the ruby into the liquid. The images fade. The screen goes dark and then your lantern springs back to life, illuminating the room once again. You stand.
Record the Codeword "Allistair".
If you haven't done so already you may now investigate the viewing screen - turn to 190.
Or you may leave the room via the door in the east wall - turn to 506.
Using the low tunnel to your advantage, you back slowly toward the barred trapdoor, keeping the hobgoblins at sword's length, swiping at either which is foolish enough to lunge into your range. Both are dead before you reach the end of the squat hall.
Rummaging through their clothes and pockets you turn up three gold pieces and a small, white key. Note all this on your Adventure Sheet. You reason that the key might be the perfect size to unlock the trap door, so you clamber up the ladder and fit it into the lock.
The key turns easily and you give a shove at the door. There is still something blocking it, but, unlocked, it is no longer a match for your strength. Heaving mightily, you force the door open, wincing as something which was resting atop the trap door loudly crashes to its side above. You wait a moment to see if anything will investigate the noise, and when nothing does, poke your head up through the trap door.
The first thing you notice is the wooden chest lying on its side. Not only was the trap door locked, but this chest seems to have been atop it as well. That is what made the loud crashing sound, as you knocked it over when the trap door opened.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north, west and south are natural cave walls. In the northern wall is a wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
You haul yourself up through the trap door.
The water looks much too cold to swim in if you don't have to, so you decide against it.
Will you now upright the chest and open it? If so, turn to 254.
Or would you prefer to open the door in the north wall? Turn to 158.
With no other way to progress, you are forced to dash as quickly as you can across the hot coals. Your boots should provide you some protection, but there's no telling how deep that coal pile goes! You take a running leap out over the coals, impact forcefully, sinking to mid-shin in searing heat, force yourself to keep running and reach the other side, swatting out flames which have sprouted across your boots. You have been burned. To determine how badly, roll 1 die and deduct this many STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you take a moment to recuperate and then continue onward. Turn to 30.
You draw your sword and cautiously approach the bats. You take a hard swipe and one of the bats falls, dying to the floor, letting out a single shrill screech as it does. This alarms the other bats and dozens of tiny eyes open all around you. Suddenly the air is filled with flapping and fluttering shapes, tiny fangs and outstretched claws. You try to fend off their accidental attacks, but there are just too many of them. Soon you are reduced to running north down the corridor, your head covered with your hands, eyes barely lifted to see that you don't collide with anything. By the time you have finally put enough distance between yourself and the swarm, you are covered with a myriad of small wounds, most which will probably become infected. Roll 1 die and subtract this many STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you sheath your sword and continue north down the tunnel. Turn to 393.
Up ahead you can see that the passage arrives at a junction. As you are nearing the junction, however, a strange creature with a scaled humanoid body, long tail and a head similar to that of a crocodile rounds the corner. It eyes you warily for a moment, then, dropping its sharp-toothed jaw open, it charges you, growling deep in the back of its throat. You have no choice but to fight it.
GATOR MAN SKILL 7 STAMINA 7
If you kill the GATOR MAN, turn to 317.
You hold the lighted torch up to the strands of web which snap and melt beneath the torch's mighty heat. Most of the spiders try scampering away, but many of them are unable to avoid your torch and pop or wither in its flame. At last you have a clear path to continue through the shaft. Turn to 419.
The door opens onto an unlit hallway heading west. Holding your own light aloft you proceed along it cautiously for less than fifty feet before arriving at a strange sight.
Depending from a small, dark hole in the ceiling, dangling to just above the floor, is a long length of rope. Tied to the rope, at about waist height, is a sign which reads "Pull Me".
Do you wish to tug on the rope? If so, turn to 37.
If you would rather sever the rope at the tallest point you can reach, turn to 491.
If you would prefer to leave the rope entirely and continue west down the passage, turn to 171.
You pick up the gold piece and slide it into your backpack. (Record it on your Adventure Sheet). You then continue your walk eastward. Turn to 38.
Your passage is nearly silent and the Minotaur never glances your way. Feeling very lucky, you exit through the eastern passage. Turn to 129.
You pick up the CAVE TROLL'S sword and swing it in a wide arc around your head. The sword is incredibly light in your hand, despite its massive appearance, and the preternatural edge to the blade is keen and obvious even upon casual inspection. Surely the sword is magical.
If you had dulled your old sword, causing you to minus 1 from your Attack Strength in combat, you can now remedy this problem by substituting the CAVE TROLL'S magic sword for your own.
In addition, as long as you are using the CAVE TROLL'S sword, you may add 1 to your Attack Strength in combat because of its magical properties. To take the CAVE TROLL'S sword you will have to abandon your old sword, however.
Make any necessary changes on your Adventure Sheet if you choose to take the sword, then continue on your way by turning to 459.
You walk north along the passage for a few moments more.
You see the door ahead before you reach it, because of the ornate stone arch that surrounds it. The arch and doorway are on the right hand side of the passage, and the arch is carved with the hideous faces of frowning gargoyles and grinning skulls painted bright green. The door itself is just plain and wooden.
Shall you open this door? If so, turn to 306.
Otherwise, continue north by turning to 298.
This creatures is an incredibly powerful being, and not of this world! Do you possess a magic sword?
If so, turn to 444.
If not, you may either pay it the 1 gold piece it has requested (if you have it), by turning to 35, or you must return to the staircase on the platform behind you and descend, by turning to 399.
You reach a tentative hand out to the surface of the mirror and are amazed when your hand passes through! The reflective skin of the mirror ripples about your hand like liquid mercury, causing a strange tingling sensation. You withdraw your hand and find it unharmed, then study the mirror intently.
If you wish to step into the mirror's surface, to see what lay on the other side, turn to 141.
Or you may leave well enough alone and continue north by turning to 182.
As you approach the figure it lifts its hooded head. You are alarmed to see that beneath its cowl there is only empty space! The creature is faceless! It uncrosses its arms and you see that its sleeves end in emptiness as well. The creature appears to be comprised of a hooded robe, draped over nothing.
A hollow voice, cold and lifeless, yet filled with a great sorrow, mourning an eternity of life in death perhaps, speaks to you. "One gold piece to cross the bridge," it says, extending its empty sleeve.
If you have a gold piece and you wish to pay the robed figure, turn to 35.
If you don't, you may turn around and walk back to the platform behind you and descend the stairs - turn to 399.
Or you may draw your sword and attack the robed figure by turning to 20.
Paddling with one hand, your other struggling to keep your lamp above water, you are making some progress to the west when a strange bubbling in the water ahead brings you to a stop. Kicking hard with your feet to keep your head above water, you grip your sword in your other hand.
Suddenly a large, purple tentacle with dozens of suckers along its bottom lashes out of the water and gropes toward you. You consider swimming back to the beach but the tentacle is too close, and your swimming too slow. You will have to fight it.
TENTACLE SKILL 6 STAMINA 6
You must subtract 2 from your SKILL score for this combat only since you are struggling to simply stay afloat.
If the Tentacle ever scores 2 consecutive hits on you, turn to 342.
If you beat the Tentacle, without it scoring 2 consecutive hits on you, turn to 247.
Did you remember to take off your backpack where your torch and tinderbox are contained before entering the pool?
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 183.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 233.
You rush past the DEATH SPECTRE'S still form and come to another platform.
Here, a spiral slide leads down to disappear from sight in the cavern's gloom. Looking up, you note that the rope which originally led down to this platform is now gone.
Turning back, you see that the DEATH SPECTRE has arisen again, and resumed his place in the centre of the bridge! It may be impossible to kill.
Will you slide down this slide? If so, turn to 128.
If you would rather return to the bridge to confront the DEATH SPECTRE again, turn to 501.
You draw the ruby out of your backpack and drop it into the well. It disappears beneath the disgusting red blood-surface. You wait several moments, wondering if you have done the right thing, when the golden key, which you had seen embedded within the ruby, suddenly floats to the surface. Of the ruby, there is no sight. You grimace and snatch the key from the blood, wiping it across the front of your armour.
Remove the ruby from your Adventure Sheet and add a golden key.
You now approach the door in the western wall. Turn to 90.
You maneuver the levers so that only the right lever is in the up position. You wait a moment to see whether you have succeeded, and if not, what punishment shall be bestowed upon you. A strange humming sound begins from the portcullis and you step back, hand going instinctively to your sword hilt. There is no way for you to defend yourself, however, as the bars of the gate suddenly flash bright blue and a bolt of lightning crackles out to strike you in the chest. The force of the blast knocks you backward. Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive you get to your feet and approach the gate again.
You may now try raising both levers up simultaneously by turning to 132.
Or you may move the right lever down and the left lever up by turning to 366.
Alternately, you may return to the goblin domain to ask their advice by turning to 450.
The passage continues straight northward for less than a minute before you come to yet another closed door, this one on the eastern wall. The passage still continues to the north as well.
You examine the door, listen at it, but are able to discern nothing.
Will you open the door? If so, turn to 425.
If you would rather leave the door and continue northward, turn to 359.
A short distance down the corridor you come to a closed door on the eastern wall. You press your ear against the door but can hear nothing beyond it.
Do you wish to open this door? If so, turn to 470.
Or would you rather continue to the south? If so, turn to 218.
The human handiwork of the passage walls give way almost immediately to the natural curves and grottos of subterranean cavern. Ahead the natural passage opens up into a wide cavern, with a ceiling which arches high above your head. Your last step on solid stone echoes wildly in the cave, and then you have stepped off onto a soft floor of white sand.
The cavern is devoid of life except for a strange, sullenly glowing lichen which clings to some of the upper reaches of the cave.
Arrayed on the southern wall, looking odd in the natural surroundings, are three closed doors. All three appear equal in size and shape. They seem almost identical. You press your ear against each in turn but can hear nothing beyond.
The doors seem to be your only means of progressing.
Will you:
Open the first door? Turn to 460.
Open the second door? Turn to 262.
Open the third door? Turn to 246.
You swing your sword at the little man, but he doesn't even flinch. The blow never lands! There seems to be some sort of invisible barrier surrounding the man. His smile deepens into a deep frown and he shakes his head sadly. He lifts a single hand to point at the door in the southern wall.
You have no other choice but to leave. Turn to 85.
As soon as your feet touch this portion of the web they become stuck fast.
You are in the northwest corner of the web. The place where you saw the helmet lies some nine feet to the east and six feet south. The doorway is some six feet south and three feet west.
You try to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and now must decide whether to step east (turn to 95) or south (turn to 106).
As the Pterodactyl is making a swooping pass you give a mighty swing with your sword and manage to sever the thin membrane that comprises the bird's wing. The Pterodactyl lets out a screech of pain and goes careening off into the undergrowth where it crashes with a heavy thump, and stirs no more.
Breathing heavily with exertion and fear you lower yourself the rest of the way to the ground, unharmed.
Before any of the bird's friends can attack, you decide to get moving. You walk westward, hacking shrubs out of your path to ease your passage, and soon stumble across a dirt trail leading through the undergrowth toward the western cliff face. You can make out a door at the culmination of the path there, built directly into the cliff. The trail also continues behind you, however, dipping out of sight into the trees, to the southeast.
As you stand, considering which way to go, you can hear the loud and raucous cries of other Pterodactyls from the cliff faces all around you. Will you therefore hustle to the door in the west to make an escape from this weird room? Turn to 82.
Or would you rather take the time to investigate the path to the southeast? Turn to 112.
You awake an unknown length of time later. You are laying on cold sand, your clothes are soaked and you are exhausted. All around you is black. But you are alive. Groaning, you sit up to slough off your backpack and retrieve the leather bag. You unknot and open it, praying that the torch and tinderbox remained dry. They did! You strike a spark and soon have your torch flaring again. From your seated position you survey your surroundings.
The first thing you notice is the wooden chest sitting in the sand near to your head. It is closed and latched, but does not appear locked.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north, west and south are natural cave walls. In the northern wall is a wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
You have no desire to enter the water again after your last ordeal.
Once you have recovered, will you therefore open the chest (turn to 254) or the door (turn to 158)?
You give the creature a single gold piece (deduct this from your Adventure Sheet) and it steps aside, allowing you to pass.
You cross the bridge to a new platform.
Here a spiralling slide launches down into the darkness below. Looking up you can see that the rope that originally led down to this platform is now gone.
If you would like to try sliding down the slide, turn to 128.
If you would rather cross the bridge to face the robed figure again, turn to 501.
As you draw closer to the object you can see that it is a low, oblong boat, similar to a gondola. At the boat's stern, a gray robed figure, whose face is obscured by a cowl, poles the boat along. The boat is still heading toward you.
Would you like to clamber up into the boat as it draws near? If so, turn to 336.
If you would rather hail the boat man as the boat nears, turn to 165.
Alternately, you may swim as fast as you can back to the beach you left behind to reconsider things. Turn to 197.
You give the rope a gentle tug and can immediately see the ceiling above, where the rope disappears, begin to sag. The rope seems to be attached to something on the other side of the ceiling. You try backing away from the area of the ceiling you saw sag and give another tug, but now the angle is wrong and your force diminished. The ceiling no longer moves at all.
You have no way to create a pulley system, so it seems if you want to see what the rope is attached to you will have to stand directly at the base of the rope and tug hard.
Do you want to pull even harder on the rope? If so, turn to 142.
If that strikes you as foolhardy, either continue west down the passage by turning to 171, or sever the rope at its highest point by turning to 491.
A short distance along the corridor turns to the south. Soon afterward you come to a closed wooden door on the western wall. The passage also continues to the south. Listening at the door reveals nothing.
Will you open the door? If so, turn to 493.
If you would rather just pass it by and continue south, turn to 398.
You are making some progress when you miss your grip and tumble some eight feet back to the ground below. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
You have no option but to try again.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 131.
If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 39.
The dart thuds into your chest. Fortunately, your leather armour has protected you from some of the impact. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you pluck the dart from your armour and then peer through the open door into a cavern even larger than the one you are standing in. Turn to 118.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than your SKILL score, turn to 499.
If the result is equal to or higher than your SKILL score, turn to 147.
As your body crumples, a terrible gash in your chest through which your blood is running, the boat man steps forward and grasps your hand. His touch is icy cold and you feel a moment of intense terror. You look up into his hollow eye sockets and see an otherworldly light flash within.
With horror you feel your flesh crumbling, drying, dropping off your bones. You fight for breath, but find there is none. Looking at your hand within the boat man's you see that your own hand is now skeletal too.
With tremendous strength, the boat man hauls you back to your feet. He thrusts his scythe into your bony hand, and reaches up to replace his cowl over his head. As you watch, the boatman disappears, fading off to join the mists that filter across the lake.
You look to the scythe and see that it has returned to its state as a pole. Dipping this into the water, your feet planted firmly in the boat, you begin pushing the skiff through the water, waiting for the sound of the horn that will call you to duty.
Your adventure ends here...
You gently stamp out the torch, careful not to damage your only light source. You are immediately plunged into darkness. You then take the torch and tinderbox and, working blindly, stuff both into the leather bag, and draw the drawstrings tightly, knotting the rabbit ears of string about the bag's neck for extra protection. You place the leather bag inside your backpack.
Edging forward you lower yourself once more into the cold water of the pool. You prepare your sword, intake a deep breath and dive down into the water.
It is harder than you thought to find the tile again in the dark and you have to try several times, returning to the surface, intaking breath, trying to fight down the panicky feelings that come with being blind in this dangerous place. At last, however, launching yourself to the bottom, you are able to find the loose tile again, and fit your sword blade into it. You pry the tile up slightly, hear the rushing sound and feel the suction again. But now you can see, at least dimly, for the glow of the light is coming from beneath the tile again. You put all of your muscle into drawing the tile up and at last it gives, raising partway and then splitting down the middle.
Immediately the current becomes something fierce, dragging you downward into this newly opened tunnel. In a moment of panic you try to fight it, but the undertow is too strong. The torrent is dragging you down, as all the pool drains into this new hole.
Without a chance to even draw another breath you are dragged into this underwater tunnel, and pulled roughly past hewn walls where your arms and legs scrape painfully. But the light beneath you is growing brighter. You cast a single glance upward but can see only the darkness of rushing water above you.
The water has dragged you into some aquatic room now. The walls are composed of mossy, blue brick, and the cracked and broken floor is some distance beneath you. You appear to be hurtling through the ruins of some ancient, submerged armoury, toward a dark, gaping hole in one of the shattered walls.
On the wall, near to the hole you are being dragged toward, you can now see the source of the light. Next to rows of rusted metallic armour you can see a suit of leather armour which somehow remains pristine. It is glowing gently with a strange, pulsing light.
Your lungs are burning for air and you are feeling the panicked need to breathe.
Will you fight the current at the mouth of the hole you are being pulled toward to try to grasp the leather armour? Turn to 434.
Or will you allow the current to carry you, hoping it may yet lead to some place where you can get another breath before you pass out and die? Turn to 265.
Eventually the shape comes close enough that you can discern it through the mist. It is an oblong boat, similar to a gondola, and a man, dressed in heavy grey robes, his face obscured by a cowl, stands at its stern, poling the boat along.
The boat draws close to the beach, its bow actually rising up onto the sand a short way, making a loud gritting sound. The figure holds out a hand to you, and to your horror you see that the hand is actually skeletal! With its other skeletal hand, the figure gestures to the part of the nearby sign which reads "(1 gold piece)".
If you have a gold piece and wish to pay this to the Boatman, turn to 335.
If you do not have any gold, or prefer not give him it, turn to 154.
You pull the flute from your backpack, praying you can pull this off. You have seen the fakirs of your village charming cobras with bamboo flutes, but those were much smaller than this one, and besides, you haven't had a lot of practice on the flute. You bring it to your lips and begin to play.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 251. If you are Unlucky, turn to 300.
About fifty feet down the corridor, the passage swings to the north again. You follow this and a further seventy feet along the passage turns again to the west, and almost immediately upon rounding this corridor you see that you've come to a junction. The passage continues west and a new branch opens to the south. To the west you can see nothing, but to the south you can make out a shape lying in the middle of the floor. You decide to investigate. Turn to 107.
You let go of the platform and begin a sickening drop downward. The floor was not just out of reach, but fifty feet below you! The magical darkness clears just in time for you to see the sandy floor rushing at you, and then you know darkness again. It is darkness eternal. Your adventure ends here...
You stand triumphant over the WERERAT'S slain form and watch as its shape slowly reverts back to that of a human.
You may take its torch, if you like, and add it to your backpack (note this on your Adventure Sheet). If your sword has been damaged, you may swap your old one for the WERERAT'S, remedying any Attack Strength deductions that were accumulated as a result of the damaged sword.
The only other treasure you find on the WERERAT'S body is a necklace made of rat's skulls which hangs around its neck. An ethereal light glows through the eye sockets of the central skull.
If you wish to put the necklace around your own neck, turn to 311.
If it just seems to creepy to you, leave the necklace and head east to the junction by turning to 431.
You sprint as fast as you can, but it seems you are running an impossible race. If you had noticed the pillars beginning their fall sooner, or reacted quicker, perhaps you would have had a chance. As it is, all six pillars fall, as if guided by an invisible hand, to land directly upon you, crushing you into the ground and shattering every bone in your body. Your adventure ends here...
When you step into this corner of the web, your feet become firmly trapped in the web's resin.
The place where you saw the helmet now lies about six feet to the north. The doorway lies about six feet north and twelve feet west.
You try to free your feet from the web. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must now decide whether to head north (turn to 136) or west, (turn to 408).
This is 50 foot of rope strong enough to bear your weight.
The food is delicious, and quite nourishing! Restore 3 STAMINA points.
If you have not done so already, you may now, if you wish, sample the wines by turning to 396.
Otherwise, you may take a silver platter (adding it to your Adventure Sheet) and leave the chamber to head east down the corridor by turning to 496.
A short way down the passage you come to a closed door on the northern wall. The door is made of wood, but a brass plate has been affixed to it at eye level. The plate reads "Sulphur Room". The passage still continues to the east.
Will you:
Open the door? If so, turn to 276.
Or leave it shut and continue east? Turn to 312.
The passage soon widens into a small room, its dimensions compact enough that your lantern can easily illuminate every corner. In the centre of the room sits a stone chair, seemingly fashioned from the rock of the floor itself. Upon the chair are several plush and comfortable looking cushions. On the northern wall, opposite the chair, hangs a white scrim, perhaps some sort of viewing screen. On the eastern wall, to the right of you, is a closed, rounded door.
Will you rest your weary body in the comfort of the chair? Turn to 9.
Or you can ignore the chair and investigate the viewing screen - turn to 190.
Or you may ignore both the chair and the screen and open the door in the eastern wall - turn to 117.
You drop the six gold pieces into the slot, one after the other (deduct them from your Adventure Sheet) and they disappear into the wall with a hollow thunk. There is a moment's pause during which you fear you may have wasted your money, but all at once the manacles click open and the platinum key drops to the floor. You bend over and retrieve it, placing it in your backpack (record it on your Adventure Sheet). You then leave the room and resume your trek south. Turn to 398.
You edge your way along the outer right edge of the pillars, eyes shifting nervously, on the lookout for danger. Nothing seems to happen, however, and when you have bypassed the pillars you continue south along your way. Turn to 316.
Considering the size of the passage you are in, you cannot understand how any creature with a foot large enough to have created the footprint you are seeing could stand within it. This leads you to examine your surroundings more closely and, holding your light aloft you can see that a portion of the ceiling, made of heavy looking stone, directly overtop the footprint is shaped like a giant foot.
Will you:
Climb down into the footprint to investigate the pouch at its centre? Turn to 275.
Edge around the footprint to continue east? Turn to 390.
Or return to the previous junction to take another path? Turn to 446.
As you approach the sign, squinting to try to read the smaller print, the floor beneath you suddenly gives way, dropping you into darkness. You fall some fifteen feet before colliding heavily with the floor beneath you. Roll 1 die, and deduct that many STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you spy handholds leading up one wall, and are able to climb back out of the pit. At the top, standing on a narrow strip of floor between pit and wall, you are able to read the sign clearly. It reads, "DANGER! Pit Trap!"
Shaking your head, you edge your way back around the pit and head north, turning west at the intersection. Turn to 46.
(If you had noted the shield on your Adventure Sheet, now cross it off).
You dash for the hallway, head ducked, hands held above it to ward off the falling stones. The stones are sharp and heavy, however, and by the time you reach the hallway you are severely cut. Roll 1 die and deduct this many STAMINA points.
Once in the hall you spin around to face the room. The rumbling is still continuing, though it seems entirely confined to within those walls. The hallway is perfectly still. As you watch, the chunks of stone falling from the ceiling grow ever larger until eventually the entire room collapses, filling the archway in front of you with rubble and choking sprays of dust.
The shield is lost forever.
If you are still alive, wiping blood from your neck, you turn and continue northward down the hall. Turn to 368.
The key flips out of its sconce in the wall easily and, grabbing it, not even looking, you leap from the niche in the wall. You are braced for impact and when it comes you are grateful to realize it is with the floor, rather than the pendulum. You have just enough time to roll out of the way before the pendulum blade cuts you in two. Will you roll northward and make your way to the door in the wall there? Turn to 6.
Or will you roll southward and return to the main entry chamber to choose another door? Turn to 73.
Alternatively, if you are still feeling the adrenalin, you may try to leap again onto the pendulum blade, this time to swing into the niche on the western wall. Turn to 189.
You turn and sprint back westwards toward the junction. The shriek sounds one more time from behind you and then falls silent. The wind has stopped rushing now that you are out from the vicinity of that hole in the ceiling.
You turn to look back, but see only the empty corridor. Nevertheless, you decide against trying that passage again and now must decide to go either north (turn to 225) or south (turn to 332).
Your heart rate quickens as the figure turns down your corridor and begins walking toward the rubbish pile. You are partially obscured by the rubbish and may yet go unnoticed, but it is uncertain.
Will you maintain your position and hope the man does not see you? If so, turn to 370.
If you would rather spring to the attack with your sword, turn to 84.
Or, you may stand and call out a greetings to the man by turning to 451.
You approach the well with trepidation, gripping your sword in one hand, your light in the other. As you draw nearer, the stench becomes more intense, and you can see that the well is indeed filled, almost to overflowing, with blood. The blood does not stir, but somehow it has not congealed, has retained the thick, runny consistency of freshly drawn vitae. It is a rich red.
Do you have the Codeword "Allistair" recorded? If so, turn to 385.
Or do you have the Codeword "Moravia" recorded? If so, turn to 101.
If you have neither Codeword, then you may either prod in the blood with your sword (turn to 174), or leave the room through the door in the western wall (turn to 90).
You try to secure the rope to one of the outcroppings of rock which jut from the wall, but none of the ties you try seem secure enough. You'll need something better.
If you have a wooden mallet and some iron spikes you may try pounding one of these into the ground as an anchor for your rope. To do this, turn to 377.
If you lack either or both of these items, or if you don't want to use them, you have no choice but to leave the room to continue your journey, by turning to 218.
Allibor's corpse is a fearsome opponent. This could be a tough fight.
ALLIBOR SKILL 12 STAMINA 24
If you win, turn to 507.
Your movements are too slow, and the great, stone foot crushes down upon you before you can reach the centre. You hear your bones crunching, feel great pain, and then know no more. Your adventure ends here...
You hack and hack, finally carving a hole wide enough that you might be able to enter. You hold your light close to the hole, trying to peer further inside when something, all at once, bursts out at you, striking you painfully in the chest and knocking you backwards. You hit the floor with solid force. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you clamber to your feet, reaching instinctively for your sword. Looking up, you are horrified at what you see.
The thing that burst out at you was a GIANT COBRA, its partially coiled body, more than forty feet in length, still trailing back inside the basket. You know that the GIANT COBRA carries a very deadly poison, and you immediately check your chest for signs that the COBRA has bitten you.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 98. If you are Unlucky, turn to 105.
Drawing your sword and leaning over the pit on your tiptoes, you reach out and sever the thread which holds the flute. Immediately the flute begins its plummet into the pit and you swipe at it with the flat of your blade, trying to knock it aside. You are a little too slow, however, and the flute drops into the pit. No matter. You clamber down your rope and retrieve the bamboo flute from the mud, placing it into your backpack. Note it on your Adventure Sheet. You then climb back out of the pit and retrieve your rope. The spike, however, does not want to budge from the ground. Apparently the earth is more solid beneath its surface. Scratch one of the iron spikes off your Adventure Sheet. You then turn and leave the room to continue your quest. Turn to 218.
You turn and run, in total darkness, back to the junction. The shriek sounds from behind you one more time and then stops. The wind has completely died since you left the vicinity of the hole in the ceiling.
Dropping to one knee, you listen for a minute and finally decide you are not being pursued. You fumble your tinderbox back out of your backpack and strike up your torch again. Golden light fills the junction.
You decide against heading east again and must now decide whether to head north (turn to 225) or south (turn to 332).
The red glow you spotted ahead grows brighter and brighter as you approach. Eventually you reach a point where you can distinguish what you are seeing. The floor ahead gives way to a passage-wide bed of brightly glowing, hot coals. The passage continues as solid stone some twenty feet onward, but the heat the embers are radiating is intense, even from a distance.
You instinctively back away as you try to reason your next move when a loud clanging sound grabs your attention from behind you. Spinning, you can see that a heavy iron gate has just dropped down to the north, blocking your return in that direction. It seems there is no way onward but across the hot coals.
Are you wearing Boots of Heat Resistance?
If so, turn to 157.
If not, turn to 11.
You wait till the blade has just passed you and then dash across the room. You reach the southern door, open it, and return to the main entry chamber. Turn to 73.
You draw the garnet from your backpack and present it to the hobgoblin, praying that he will keep his word. His eyes widen in disbelief when he sees it and he snatches it from your hand, drawing it up to his face to squint at it. When he raises his eyes to look at you again you can see that they are filled with conflicting emotions. His innate hatred for humans is battling with his gratitude at having his garnet returned. At last, not saying a word, he gestures to the door in the southern wall, and turns his back on you to return to his high backed chair.
Not waiting to see if the hobgoblin will change his mind you quickly retrieve your sword, hastily sheathing it before the goblins can misinterpret, and then trot to the door in the southern wall.
As you reach the door the hobgoblin calls after you: "Human!"
You stop and turn to face him, bracing yourself for what you fear may be inevitable combat.
But the hobgoblin does not advance. He merely addresses you in a low voice from his seat. "Do not come this way again."
You nod your agreement and step quickly through the door, shutting it firmly behind you.
You are now in a stone passageway heading south, but the passage only runs for a scant ten feet before reaching a barrier in the form of a heavy, iron portcullis. On the wall to the right of the portcullis are a pair of levers, both currently in the down position, and a wooden plaque hangs between them.
You quickly read the plaque. It says, "To pass this gate you must arrange the levers into the proper positions. Failure will be punished."
Will you:
Raise both levers to the up position simultaneously? If so, turn to 132.
Raise only the right lever? Turn to 27.
Or raise only the left lever? Turn to 366.
Alternately, you may return to the goblins' chamber and ask for their advice. To do this, turn to 450.
The spider's bloated carcass tumbles from the web, dropping out of sight to land with a disgusting crunch after several seconds of free fall. (If you lost your rope trying to lasso the helmet, you are unable to free it here. You can see where it is stuck - just beside the helmet - you will have to reach the helmet before you can retrieve the rope). You are still only a few feet from the door. You could probably, if you fight forcefully, free yourself from the web and reach the hallway with relative ease. Of course, the ornate helmet is only about nine feet out of reach now to the east, and would make quite a prize.
Will you try to fight on toward the helmet, despite the strong resin coating the spider's web? If so, turn to 403.
If you would rather try to get back to the hallway while you are still reasonably close, turn to 89.
You walk quickly back to the cave entrance and survey your choices once more.
If you wish to enter the second door, turn to 81.
If you wish to enter the third door, turn to 287.
If you wish to enter the fourth door, turn to 228.
If you wish to enter the fifth door, turn to 435.
You are just reaching out for the second rope when you miss your grip and drop toward the slime beneath you. Your legs both plunge below the green surface and you feel an instant shooting pain. The slime is highly corrosive! Deduct 2 STAMINA points. In a frenzy, you grasp for the third rope to try to haul yourself up out of the slime.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 440. If you are Unlucky, turn to 367.
As the Pterodactyl swoops low over your head, you swing your sword and manage to pierce the thin membrane of its left wing. The bird lets out a screech of pain and, panicking, flies headlong into the trunk of one of the tall palms. It crashes to the foliage ridden ground and lies motionless.
You step past its still body with a wary eye and begin hacking yourself a path through the undergrowth, heading west. A short ways distant you stumble across a dirt trail running west and curving behind you to the southeast. At the far western end of the trail you can see where the path culminates in a wooden door built into the stony cliff face there. To the southeast the trail dips out of sight.
You can hear above you, echoing from cliff everywhere, the further raucous cries of Pterodactyls. Will you therefore take this opportunity to exit this strange room via the door in the west? If so, turn to 82.
If you would rather investigate the trail to the southeast, turn to 112.
You try to secure the rope to one of the outcroppings of rock which jut from the wall, but none of the ties you try seem secure enough. You'll need something better.
If you have a wooden mallet and some iron spikes you may try pounding one of these into the ground as an anchor for your rope. To do this, turn to 482.
If you lack either or both of these items, or if you don't want to use them, you may try cutting the thread holding the flute and hope you can bat the flute to a secure location in time. To do this turn to 353.
Alternately, you may leave the room to continue your journey, by turning to 218.
You fling your body through the web, swatting at spiders as you go.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 486. If you are Unlucky, turn to 361.
You turn down the eastern corridor and walk cautiously for a few moments before your lamp begins to pick out where the passage opens into a room ahead. Gripping your sword tightly, you step up to the archway and shine your light into a room which is approximately 20 feet by 20 feet. The walls are made of uneven brick, and the northern and eastern walls are studded with heavy, drooping chains. Clasped in tight manacles at the end of each chain are a variety of items. Stepping closer you see that hanging from one chain is a small knife. Next to this, coiled and secured tightly within its manacle, is a long length of rope. On the other wall, seized in chains, hang a torch, a potion and a shining sword.
Next to each item is a small plaque bearing a price. Beneath each of these is a coin slot of sufficient size for a gold piece.
You try freeing one of the items from its manacle by force, but this doesn't seem to work. It appears that if you want one of the items you may have to pay for it.
If you have 2 gold pieces you may insert them in the knife's coin slot and turn to 193.
Or, for 4 gold pieces you can try buying the potion - turn to 230.
If you wish, you may pay 2 gold pieces for the rope by turning to 176.
Or for 1 gold piece you may buy the torch - turn to 469.
For 5 gold pieces you may buy a shining sword - turn to 79.
Alternatively you may leave the room and take the northern passage (turn to 331) or return to the main entry chamber to choose a different door (turn to 73).
You drop the 5 gold pieces into the coin slot next to the sword (deduct these from your Adventure Sheet) and wait a moment. Nothing happens. The sword remains securely fastened in its manacles. You curse and shake the chains, hoping to retrieve the sword, but it is held fast. It seems you have wasted your gold.
If you are still in a shopping mood, and still have enough gold, you may try to purchase any item you have not tried to purchase previously.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the knife, turn to 193.
If you have 4 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the potion, turn to 230.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the rope, turn to 176.
If you have 1 gold piece and wish to spend it on the torch, turn to 469.
Or you may leave this room, returning to the junction, there either to take the north leading passage (turn to 331), or the south leading one, back to the main entry chamber to choose a new door (turn to 73).
The man approaches until he stands right before you, the grin never leaving his face. He continues his previous sentence with, "But I cannot help you... unless you have found the proper articles to help yourself. Do you happen to have, perchance, three small, iron boxes?" He eyes you with anticipation.
If you have three iron boxes and would like to take them out of your backpack to show him, turn to 387.
Otherwise, you may attack the little man (turn to 31) or you can ignore him and walk over to the door in the southern wall (turn to 85).
Taking a deep breath of preparation, you grip the second door's handle and heave. It swings open with ponderous weight, its rusted hinges groaning loudly. You step up to the doorway and hold your lamp aloft.
The doorway lets onto a fair sized room, shadows spread like piled carpet in the corners where your lamp light scarcely reaches. There is a strange, repetitive sound arising from the room further in, the source obscured in darkness. Gripping the hilt of your sword you take a few steps into the room, holding your lantern high, eyes straining to pick out what is causing the noise.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Something is moving in the darkness. Something fast, but heavy, arcing back and forth across the room. With another stuttering step you can make it out. A great, fast moving pendulum blade is bisecting the room. It is the sound of its passage, as the sharpened blade slices through the air, that you heard on entering. On the other side of the swinging blade you can make out another wooden door.
While you are trying to decide whether to go back or to try to dash past the rapidly swinging pendulum, you notice that the blade, at the extreme point in each of its arcs, swings into two large niches, one on either wall. In the darkness it is impossible to tell how deep each of these niches are. They might be large enough only to house the swinging blade, or they might lead to tunnels, high up in the wall. There seems only one way to find out, though it could prove dangerous... maybe fatal.
If you wish to be daring, take a leap onto the pendulum as it swings by and swing with it into either the left niche (189), or the right niche (41).
If you would rather try to sprint past the swinging blade, to get to the door on the other side, turn to 295.
If you feel less quick, you may return to the cave entrance and choose a different door by turning to 73.
The door in the western cliff face opens easily and lets onto a cold, dark passage. The walls here are close around you, feeling doubly claustrophobic after the experience you just had in the pseudo-open air.
You follow the passage cautiously to the west for a few minutes before it finally turns to the north. Turn to 19.
You begin walking cautiously down the stairs toward the edge of the pit. As your foot touches down on one of the steps you hear a clicking sound and suddenly the steps all swivel forty-five degrees to form a straight ramp leading to the pit. Simultaneously, a thick, slippery oil jets from small holes in the wall to coat the now treacherous floor. Your feet threaten to fly out from under you as you stumble toward the pit edge.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 94. If you are Unlucky, turn to 386.
You draw your sword and leap out at the man, belching your most ferocious battle cry! The man seems momentarily taken aback by your aggression, and you are able to land a single blow on him, but then it is you who are taken aback as you witness a remarkable and horrifying transformation begin in him. His features begin to melt and fold and grayish hair sprouts out all across his body. Soon his face seems not at all human, but almost rat-like! You are facing an evil WERERAT! It hisses and snarls, raising both its torch and sword. You must fight it.
WERERAT SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 48.
You walk up to the door in the southern wall and pull it open, revealing a darkened corridor running to the south. You follow this corridor for no more than forty feet when it turns to the east, and twenty feet after that it makes a hard angled turn to the south again. Here the passage seems to widen somewhat, and up ahead you can make out a series of six tall pillars, smaller than the ones that lined the giant room where you met the little man. The pillars stand near to the opposite walls of the corridor, three on each side, leaving a nice, wide path down the centre, between them, but leaving a little room on the outside which you could, if you preferred, walk along.
Will you:
Walk between the pillars, down the centre of the corridor? If so, turn to 479.
Walk on the outer left side of the pillars? If so, turn to 357.
Walk on the outer right side of the pillars? If so, turn to 55.
You drop to the floor and lay motionless, remembering having heard that bears will not eat carrion. The bear approaches and sniffs at you.
Unfortunately, this bear is very hungry, and you don't smell like carrion; you are in fact heavily scented with the smell of old provisions in your backpack. The bear lowers its muscle and sinks its teeth into an arm. Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you leap to your feet, drawing your sword, realizing you will have to fight this creature.
GRIZZLY BEAR SKILL 8 STAMINA 10
If you kill the bear, you step around its mighty carcass and continue south. Turn to 351.
Taking the time to prudently place your lantern aside, you lower yourself feet first into the pool. The water is cold, but you can feel a current, swirling gently beneath you.
Something suddenly stirs in the water near at hand and you flinch back, reaching for your sword. But all is silent now. You scan the surface of the water, trying to determine what could have moved. You are beginning to relax when something rears out of the water. With shock you realize that it is the water itself that has reared back. You are facing a Water Weird, a great serpent formed from water. It lunges at you, and as it does so a great gout of water swamps your lantern on the floor near the pool, dousing its light. You are plunged into darkness.
You must fight the Water Weird, but because you are fighting blind, subtract 2 from your SKILL points for this combat only.
WATER WEIRD SKILL 6 STAMINA 8
If you defeat the Water Weird, turn to 297.
Otherwise, the creature drags you down into the depths of the pool where you are drowned. Eventually your carcass floats back to the surface, where you bob like a bloated raft in this dark swimming pool for days before being eaten.
The passage continues to the south for approximately fifty more feet before it T-bones. Will you take the passage to the east (turn to 467) or the west (turn to 255)?
It is a great struggle, but fighting with all your strength you are able to free your legs and scramble back to the doorway. You cast a single glance back to the helmet resting atop its web and then set off for the junction again to take the western branch. Turn to 255.
You hear nothing at the door so you push it open. It lets onto a hall with marble floor and smooth carved walls. Great, vaulted arches raise at regular intervals to support the gorgeously tiled ceiling overhead. A steel door stands forty feet opposite the one you entered.
You are midway down the hall when a balding man wearing black robes suddenly leaps from behind one of the pillars. You jump, taken aback, and reach for your sword.
"You are nearing Allibor's crypt!" the man shouts. "The other one made it past me, but I am here to make sure you don't!"
You realize that "the other one" the man referred to is probably Owen. He may yet be alive!
"Ast seea Tunari!" the man in the black robes yells, and with a wave of his hand, a great bolt of lightning suddenly crackles forth from his fingers, narrowly missing you. The man is a wizard!
Do you have a magic scroll that negates other spell users' spell powers? If so, and you would like to read it aloud, turn to 500.
If not, you will have to fight the wizard with your sword - turn to 135.
The door opens onto a surreal and nightmarish scene. You are looking into a wide, oval room, with no immediate floor in sight. The ceiling arches to some twenty feet above you and filling the body of the room is the most tremendous spider's web you have ever seen. Some of the strands of web are as thick as your wrist and they billow and tremble in an unseen breeze. In the northeast corner of the web is a monstrous spider, it's body easily four feet across. It watches you with its many eyes.
Seeing no other exits from the room you are about to slam the door and run when you spy one other detail. To the south of the spider, resting gently on a thick strand of ghostly web near the opposite wall is an ornate helmet encrusted with jewels.
The spider has put a tentative leg bristling with hairs out toward you. Venom drips obviously from its fearsome mandibles.
If you have a full fifty feet of rope you may try to make a lasso and harness the helmet, hauling it out to you without entering the room. To do this, turn to 281.
If you don't have fifty feet of rope you will have to either clamber out onto the spider's web to confront the spider (turn to 472), or slam the door and run back to the junction, there to try the western corridor (turn to 255).
Ignoring Owen's helpless pleas, you walk up to the golden door and rest your ear against it. Hearing nothing, you heave it open.
Your eyes widen and you try to intake a breath as a great gout of flame blasts through the open door, engulfing your body. The force of it picks you up and throws you backward, pitching you onto the tiled floor with great force. But you do not feel the impact. The heat of the flames is so intense that all you feel is pain and agony and following that, nothing...
Over the crackling and spitting of your melting body you can still vaguely hear Owen's maddened cries and his useless pleas for help. Your adventure ends here...
You have to find another light! Fumbling in the darkness, you feel your way to the wall and follow it to the door in the eastern wall. Putting your weight against it you push the door open and stumble through, blindly. You have only taken two steps past the door when the floor suddenly gives way beneath you and you fall into darkness. Your plummet is only about ten feet, but you land on a jagged pile of rocks and you feel something snap in your leg. You scream out in pain and fight to maintain consciousness unsuccessfully.
You never wake up. The Hobgoblins who come to investigate who has sprung their trap simply slit your throat in your sleep. You are lifted out of the darkness and carried, under torchlight, to a grand hall where you are placed in a very bright place, the oven, and roasted till golden. Your adventure ends here...
Flailing wildly you manage to throw yourself forward and grab hold of the chain depending from the ceiling. To your horror you discover that the chain is greased as well!
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to
418. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 137.
The place where you saw the helmet lies some six feet east and six feet south. The doorway is about six feet south and six feet west.
This portion of the web does not seem so sticky.
Will you step east (turn to 383), south (turn to 475) or west, into the northwest corner of the web (turn to 32)?
Raising your sword high above your head you charge into the room, screaming your rage. The goblins scatter on instinct, being somewhat cravenly creatures, but quickly regroup as you approach their leader, who has also confronts you with the heavy black sword.
You fight gallantly against the hobgoblin king for a few moments, exchanging blows and holding your own, but at the hobgoblin's command the whole pack descends on you at once, attacking from all sides. You are jabbed and stabbed by all manner of sharp objects, and even bitten a few times before the goblin horde brings you down. You never really had a prayer against such large numbers. You crumple to the floor beneath their weapons, knowing that you will soon be served as a feast to these foul creatures. Your adventure ends here...
The wind is strong enough to cause your torch to flicker and die. You are plunged into total darkness. The shriek comes again, and the wind is rising. Both come from above you.
Will you:
Back away from the hole above you, draw your sword and prepare for battle? If so, turn to 345.
Or will you run blindly back to the west (turn to 68) or the east (turn to 406)?
You see no puncture marks, and realize just how lucky you have been. A single bite from the beast would probably have killed you.
The GIANT COBRA is eyeing you, perhaps preparing to make another strike.
Do you have a bamboo flute? If you do, and you would like to use it to try to play a melody to distract the great snake, as you have seen charmers do in your home town, turn to 45.
If not, you are forced to fight the terrible snake. Turn to 121.
As soon as your foot touches the blackened portion of the spiral, flames shoot up from the entire pattern, engulfing you! You dance back, out of the way of the flames, beating at your body. As your foot leaves the blackened part of the spiral, the flames die down again. You have lost 4 STAMINA points! If you are still alive, you step back to reconsider your options.
You may walk directly across the spiral pattern to reach the pearl by turning to 461.
Or you may follow the white spiral pattern in to its centre by turning to 191.
Or you may leave the pattern and the pearl behind, return to the hall and go north by turning to 28.
You are standing on the part of the web farthest opposite the doorway. The doorway is now some twelve feet to the west.
This portion of the web is not terribly sticky.
If you lost your rope while trying to lasso the helmet, you are now able to retrieve it - write it back onto your Adventure Sheet.
If this is your first time here, you bend down to retrieve the gorgeously carved helmet. It is encrusted with priceless jewels and is still a fine piece of armour! It is most likely of dwarven handiwork. You place it on your head. As long as you are wearing it you may add 1 to your Initial SKILL! Note it on your Adventure Sheet.
Now, will you step north (turn to 240), west (turn to 133), or south (turn to 136)?
Remembering the words of the poem in the book, you realize that this must be the pool of blood referred to. It told you to "throw the ruby in".
Do you have a ruby with a golden key inside? If so, and you would like to throw it into the well, turn to 26.
If not, you may either prod in the blood with your sword (turn to 174), or leave the room through the door in the western wall (turn to 90).
Out of the mouth of the hole bursts a creature resembling a dragon. It is a little smaller than normal dragons, and you recognize it instantly as a WYVERN, a creature which lacks the dragon's ability to breathe fire.
It is upon you and there is no time to flee. You must fight it.
WYVERN SKILL 10 STAMINA 14
If you win, turn to 178.
It was a door that you saw up the passage on the left hand wall. You arrive at this door some thirty feet beyond the last one. It is closed and only darkness shines out from the crack beneath.
Will you open this door (turn to 203) or continue north down the passage (turn to 28)?
You place your coins upon the altar and begin walking off down the passage. The god, Vestonis, smiles on you. You may restore as many Luck points as you placed gold coins on the idol (though this may not increase your Luck beyond its Initial value). Feeling the blessing of the god upon you, you walk down the southern turn of the corridor, smiling. Turn to 242.
With a sinking feeling, you spy the two harsh puncture wounds in your chest. The snake's attack came so quickly and forcefully that you did not even realize you'd been bitten.
The snake eyes you distantly, waiting for its deadly venom to kick in. It does not have to wait long, as you soon grow incredibly dizzy and drop to the floor. The last thing you hear is the rasp of the GIANT COBRA'S scales as they cross the floor to your body. Your adventure ends here...
The place where the helmet was is some nine feet to the east and three feet to the south. The doorway lies some three feet south and three feet west. This portion of the web seems relatively unsticky.
Will you now step north, into the northwest corner of the room (turn to 32), step east (turn to 475), or step south, back toward the doorway (turn to 168)?
Ahead, in the centre of the corridor, lies the body of a man. You approach him cautiously, smelling the putrid rank of his decomposition even from a distance, and upon reaching his side, prod him with your sword. He is very dead, his old leather armour in tatters and his deerskin breeches in equal ruin. He was most likely an adventurer like yourself at one time, and appears to have been mauled to death by something at one point.
The only thing still intact upon his body are a pair of high, hard, leather boots he is wearing. They appear to be about your size, and though it might be a little grotesque, pulling the boots from the man's decaying feet, they might prove useful, as they appear much sturdier than your own boots.
If you wish to take the boots from the dead man and swap them for your own, turn to 497.
If that strikes you as a little too grisly, you may ignore both the man and the boots and continue down the passage to the south, where you think you can make out a dull, red glow coming from some distance ahead - turn to 69.
Your hand shoots out and you manage to snag the potion before it can hit the floor. On the reverse of it, where you could not see before, you find a small label informing you that you have purchased a Potion of Strength. Write your find onto your Adventure Sheet. This potion contains enough for one measure - after you use it, cross it off your Adventure Sheet. You may use it any time you wish, except while in Battle, and it will restore your STAMINA points to their Initial level.
Pleased, you now reconsider your options. If you have enough gold and you wish to do some more shopping, you may do so, purchasing only items which you have not attempted to purchase previously.
If you have 2 gold pieces and you wish to spend them on the knife, turn to 193.
If you have 2 gold pieces and you wish to spend them on the rope, turn to 176.
If you have 1 gold piece and you wish to spend it on the torch, turn to 469.
If you have 5 gold pieces and you wish to spend them on the shining sword, turn to 79.
Otherwise, you may leave the room the way you came in, returning to the junction, there to head either north down the passage (turn to 331), or heading back south, to the main entry, there to choose a new door (turn to 73).
The You is a skilled fighter, but you know what its moves will be before it makes them. Ducking and dodging, you wait for your opportunity, and then thrust your sword forward. Your blade rips through the You's chest and you see yourself, in reverse, crumple to the floor, hand clutching feebly. When the reverse version of you has gone still you bend to retrieve your blade, which is still embedded in the You's body, when something starts to happen. The You starts to flicker and fade. In a moment its body is gone, and your sword clatters to the floor. You retrieve your blade and stare at it. There is not even any blood upon it.
You are standing alone in the empty room now, with no way out but back through the mirror. You turn to it and step cautiously through, feeling the same tingling sensation ripple through your body. But you are safely back in the hall again, and when you turn to face the mirror you see only yourself reflected. Lifting your lamp and moving your head you see no further trace of the room behind the mirror. Turning away and shaking your head you begin the trek northward once more. Turn to 182.
Stepping over the dead body of the WYVERN, you walk over to the boulder in the eastern wall and heave mightily against it. It takes a few moment's effort, but eventually the boulder gives and rolls aside. The hole in the wall that is revealed seems to lead into some large room. Ducking your head, you step through, holding your light aloft to look at your new surroundings. Turn to 350.
With all of your strength you batter the trap door and at last the lock gives way, the trap door flying open with a loud crash. You pause momentarily, gripping at your sword, waiting to see if anything is going to respond to the sound. But nothing does, so you poke your head up into this new room and look around.
The first thing you notice is the wooden chest lying on its side. Not only was the trap door locked, but this chest seems to have been atop it as well. That is what made the loud crashing sound, as you knocked it over when the trap door opened.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north, west and south are natural cave walls. In the northern wall is a wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
You haul yourself up through the trap door.
The water looks much too cold to swim in if you don't have to, so you decide against it.
Will you now upright the chest and open it? If so, turn to 254.
Or would you prefer to open the door in the north wall? Turn to 158.
The trail leads to a break in the tree line beyond which lies a vast, open clearing. On the other side of the clearing you can make out another door, built into the southeastern cliff face. However, reaching it will require you to cross the open ground of the clearing, exposing you to attack from whatever may spot you from the cliff faces.
Is it worth taking the risk of crossing the open clearing to reach this door? If you think so, turn to 487.
Otherwise, hustle back along the path to the door in the western cliff face, to leave the room that way - turn to 82.
You realize, with dawning horror, what you have just done! Fire and sulphur are not a very stable combination. As a single spark leaps from your torch and contacts a bit of the yellowish rock that comprises this room there is a terrific flash of light, intense heat and a loud echoing boom! These are the last things you see and hear as your body is thrown backwards into the hallway, flaming. Your adventure ends here...
The Pterodactyl makes a swooping lunge at you and its beak closes around one hand, dislodging your hold on the tree. You tumble backwards to the ground, striking it with jarring impact, the wind momentarily knocked out of you. Subtract another 2 STAMINA points. You get to your feet and turn to face the giant bird again. Since you are on the ground again you no longer need to subtract 2 from your SKILL points for this combat, however, since you are struggling to find your breath, you do need to subtract 1 from your SKILL points for the rest of this combat.
The Pterodactyl has however many STAMINA points you left it with before falling from the tree. You must continue fighting it here on the ground.
PTERODACTYL SKILL 5
If you win, turn to 75.
Otherwise, in a short while, what the bird leaves of your battered carcass becomes fertilizer for the plant life in this strange room.
You step forward and gently depress the green button. Immediately the machine begins to hum and you back away, hand going to your sword hilt, prepared for whatever may happen. A tray suddenly slides out from the side of the machine, and your lamplight picks up the dull glitter of gold there. You scoop up the 3 gold pieces from the tray and, smiling, place them in your backpack.
If you have not done so already you may now press the red button by turning to 402. Otherwise, since there appear to be no exits from this room, you have no choice but to return to the main entry chamber and choose another door - turn to 73.
You glance up at the towering height of the cavern above you, seeing platform after platform ascend until they are lost in shadows above. You stand now at the bottom of what the doors labelled the "Pit of Death."
The cavern is even wider at the bottom than it was at the top, but aside from the white sand of the ground and occasional spots of muted, glowing lichen, the only notable feature is another set of bronze double doors in the southern wall. You place your ear against them and can hear gently stirring water beyond. Realizing that you have no option, you push the doors open. Turn to 388.
You open the door, hiding behind it as you do so in case anything should come ripping out at you. But nothing happens and you peer cautiously around the door. Beyond lies a straight, dark passage.
Will you enter this new passage? If so, turn to 498. Or, if you have not done so already, you may enter the pool - turn to 87. Or, if you wish, you may leave the room the way you came in, to return to the T-junction, there to take the western path (turn to 299), or the southern path back to the previous junction where you may turn west (turn to 354), or all the way south, through the iron gate, back to the pendulum room to reconsider your options there (turn to 269).
You step through the open door into the large cavern. Turning back you can see that all three of the previous doors led into this room.
The floor is still made of the fine, white sand, and the cavern roof still towers above you, that same strange, glowing lichen, hugging the high shadows above.
At the opposite end of the room is a set of heavy, bronze, double doors. There appears to be some sort of writing inscribed across them, so you approach, holding your light high aloft to better read.
Inscribed across the double doors, words stretching from one door across to the other, is the title, "Pit of Death". Below that is emblazoned:
"Down to the depths of the earth you must go,
The exit you seek lies below."
You read the sentence several times and then, realizing there is no other way for you to progress, you push the double doors wide.
Beyond the double doors the sand of the floor peters out across a small, wooden platform. The platform has hand rails on the west and east edges of it, and is perhaps only ten feet by ten feet.
Beyond the platform is a vertiginous nightmare. The room is still some form of cavern, the same arched ceiling and lichen above you, but below, except for the platform, the cavern's true floor lies an impossible distance down, well out of reach of your light, and only dimly illuminated by fluorescent lichen at least three hundred feet down.
You test the platform cautiously, first prodding it with your sword, then placing a single foot on it to test its strength. The platform seems sturdy enough, so you finally step out onto it, to get a better view of your surroundings. You approach the platform's edge with great trepidation, holding tightly to one of the wooden railings.
The platform you are standing on appears to be supported by several wooden cross beams below which have been somehow fastened to the stone wall of the cavern.
The southern edge of the platform is not railed, letting way onto open air and a sickening drop. Peering over this edge however, you can see that fastened just below the platform are two methods of descent. On the left hangs a long length of rope which stretches to another, similar platform below. On the right hangs a chain which reaches toward a different platform altogether, but similar to the one you are one.
The shadowy glow from the cave's lichen, which in this room stretches down the walls and into the depths, paints a picture of repeatedly descending platforms with various means to traverse them disappearing into darkness below.
The exit you seek lies below. Will you climb down the rope to the platform on the left (turn to 495) or climb down the chain to the platform on the right (turn to 430)?
The passage leads west, and as you walk along it you realize that the light at the end of this tunnel is growing brighter and brighter. Soon it is bright enough that the light from your own lantern is nearly useless. With a quickening of heartbeat you realize that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually daylight! Could you have found the exit to the labyrinth so easily?
You reach the end of the tunnel and for a moment can actually believe that you have found the exit. The tunnel opens onto a vast area filled with trees and greenery. You even see the gray clouds of sky above you! But something seems odd about this sky. It seems to have a slightly shiny quality, almost reflective. Standing on tiptoe, gripping the stone edge of the tunnel for support, you outstretch your sword to touch it. The tip of your sword clinks against something solid but transparent. It feels like glass, but stronger. Perhaps crystal. You do not believe you would be able to puncture it, even if you could reach it easier. You are definitely still within the labyrinth.
You turn your attention once more to the vast chamber. Now that you are focusing on it you realize that your tunnel has opened up on a cliff face some fifty feet off the ground, near to the tops of the tallest trees. The walls of this "room" are natural stone, cliff all around, and the room itself seems to have a diameter of at least two hundred feet. The floor of the room, some thirty feet below, is shrouded in the green of grass and shrubbery and you can see birds flitting about between the treetops below. The whole scene has a very tranquil feel to it.
Shall you climb out onto the nearest tree and try to lower yourself to the ground? If so turn to 380.
Or shall you return to the pendulum room, avoiding the pendulum, and leap to the ground, there to either head to the northern door (turn to 6), the southern door, back to the main entry chamber (turn to 73), or, if you haven't already, attempt to leap onto the pendulum to ride it into the eastern niche (turn to 41).
Backing fifty feet down the passage, you sprint as fast as you can toward the pit. When you reach the edge you hurl yourself into the open air above the abyss.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 163.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 145.
GIANT COBRA SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If at any time during the battle you are hit by the GIANT COBRA, turn immediately to 284.
If you kill the GIANT COBRA without once being hit, turn to 365.
The man waves his hand and a brass key with the number "3" inscribed on its face magically appears in mid-air before him, dropping to the floor with a soft tinkle. The man then motions for you to retrieve the key, which you do, eagerly, scooping it up and ramming it into the lock. The key fits and you turn it to the side. A muted click comes from within the box and you throw open its lid. Inside you see a rather strange object. It appears to be a fist sized ruby, surely worth thousands of gold pieces. Embedded within the ruby, however, at its very core, you can make out the dim image of a golden key suspended.
Wondering at this, you place the ruby within your backpack and turn to thank the man but, to your surprise, you discover that the little man has disappeared! You did not even hear him leave. Placing the other two boxes next to the ruby in your pack, you make your way to the door in the southern wall. Turn to 85.
A long while later the passage swings to the east. Almost immediately upon rounding this corner you find yourself at another intersection. The passage continues east and a new branch opens south again. Looking to the east you can see that the passage in that direction turns very soon to the north, and rather than break your southward trend you decide to take the passage to the south. Turn to 196.
You reach into the sack and fumble your hand around, encountering nothing. Suddenly, you feel a light tickling on the back of your hand and slowly withdraw it from the pouch. There, resting upon one of your knuckles, is a FIDDLER SPIDER, one of the most venomous spiders in the world! Trying to contain your trembling you reach slowly out to try to scrape the spider off on the rough bricks of the wall.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 337. If you are Unlucky, turn to 443.
The door pulls open to reveal... a solid brick wall beyond it. There is no way onward here.
You are about to turn away when you notice two small keyholes built directly into a pair of the bricks which stand side by side. Stooping to inspect them you can see that the mortar around these two bricks is cracked, and you surmise that the bricks can probably be removed from the wall, though when you pull at them they refuse to budge. You will certainly need the proper keys.
The two keyholes themselves are surrounded by a thin strip of metal plating. The plating surrounding the keyhole on the left is purple, while the one of the right is coloured pink.
If you have a purple key you may insert it into the purple keyhole by turning to 400.
If you have a pink key you may insert it into the pink keyhole by turning to 226.
If you have neither key, or choose not to use them here, then you must head either west down the passage by turning to 363, or east by turning to 231.
Moving very slowly, careful not to startle the bear, you back up until you are even with the intersection behind you, where the passage forks to the west. The bear eyes you hungrily, and follows. Moving with equal caution, you then remove your backpack and pull out a hunk of dried meat. You hold it up before you, letting the bear catch its salted scent, and then toss it down the western corridor. (Deduct 1 Provision from your Adventure Sheet). The bear takes the bait, lunging for the food you have discarded. You waste no time in moving quietly behind it, to continue south down this passage. Turn to 351.
Holding your lamp to one side to minimize the glare, you gaze into the mirror, seeing only your own face staring back. You are about to turn away when you notice something odd. It may be just a trick of the lamplight, but for a moment it seemed that hidden behind the reflective surface of the mirror there was another image. You thought you could see the curve of a rounded wall behind it, as if there might be a hidden room within.
If you wish to touch the mirror with your hand, turn to 21.
If you would rather touch the mirror with your sword tip, turn to 282.
If you would prefer to just leave the mirror alone and continue northward, turn to 182.
You edge your way out carefully onto the slide, seating yourself as centrally within its sloped edges as you can. You then begin slowly lowering yourself down. As you are edging along, your hand touches something slick and wet, and you bring it to your face to examine it. The slide has been greased with some transparent, slippery goo! Feeling panic, you try to haul yourself back upward, but by now you are covered in the grease, and your motions only succeed in accelerating your descent. You slide quicker and quicker, rounding strange loops, and dropping down steeply vicious slopes. Faster and faster you go, unable to stop yourself until at last you reach the end: four large, upended razors. At the rate you are travelling your are neatly cut into five, separate, bloody pieces which tumble off of the slide and drop a long distance to sandy ground below. Your adventure ends here...
The passage only goes east for a very short distance, turning almost immediately to the north. After a few moments, your lamp light picks out something bright on the eastern wall. You pause to investigate from a safe distance before realizing it is a full length mirror, embedded into the wall itself. You approach it cautiously.
If vanity overcomes you, you may look into the mirror by turning to 127.
Or you may continue to the north, averting your gaze, by turning to 182.
The moss is extremely slippery, and you sit down upon the ramp, trying to carefully lower yourself. It is futile, however, and your body begins to slide down the slick ramp into darkness. You try to fight it at first, clawing at the ramp, and using your sword as a sort of braking system, but all this does is guide your sliding body toward the unguarded edges of the ramp, so at last you give up. Your descent ends soon enough, anyway, as the slick slide deposits you, with a jolt, onto a new, wooden platform.
You are alone on the platform, but two new routes seem to provide you with options. Ahead of you an escalator, comprised of perpetually moving, wooden steps, descends into the unknown. To your right a small, metal box with wheels, similar to a mining cart, rests upon an iron track. The track curves down a steep slope, and disappears into shadows below.
There is no way you will ever be able to climb back up the ramp, so you'll have to choose one of the other two ways onward.
If you wish to step out onto the escalator, allowing it to carry you wherever its going, turn to 348.
If you would rather climb inside the cart and push off, to find out where the tracks lead, turn to 392.
Gripping for handholds in the uneven rock, you are able to haul your body back up and out of the pit.
Before you climbed you had two options. You could climb up the western wall, to continue along the passage in the direction you were going before you fell into the pit (turn to 314), or you could climb up the eastern wall, to return to the previous junction and take either the eastern fork there (turn to 263), the southern path back to the other junction where you could head west (turn to 354), or all the way south, back through the iron gate, shutting it behind you, returning to the pendulum room, there to reconsider your options (turn to 269).
You push both levers to the up position in unison. You wait a moment to see whether you have succeeded, and if not, what punishment shall be bestowed upon you. A grating sound begins from the portcullis and you step back, hand going to your sword hilt. Slowly, the portcullis begins to rise. When it has retracted fully into the ceiling you step past it and continue south down the stone corridor.
A short while later you come upon a small, wooden box resting against the western wall of the corridor.
Do you wish to open this box? If so, turn to 426.
If you would rather leave it, turn to 13.
As soon as your foot touches down on the web it becomes stuck fast. The place where the helmet was is now some three feet to the east. The doorway is some nine feet to the west. You struggle to free yourself.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must now decide whether to step east, directly to the place where you saw the helmet (turn to 100), or south (turn to 140), or north (turn to 492) or west (turn to 187).
You poke around the straw for several minutes and finally turn up an old and battered book, which appears to be some sort of treatise on exotic plant life. You place the book in your backpack (note this on your Adventure Sheet) and then head out of the room to the west. Turn to 272.
The WIZARD hurls lightning bolt after lightning bolt at you. You must fight him normally, but every time you lose a round of combat, roll 1 die and lose that many STAMINA points instead of the usual 2. (Making a successful Luck roll in this case will do nothing for you).
WIZARD SKILL 11 STAMINA 10
If you win, turn to 401.
As soon as you enter this portion of the web your feet become glued, steadfast, to it.
The place where you saw the helmet is now about three feet to the north. The doorway lies some three feet north and twelve feet west.
You try to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and now must decide whether to head north (turn to 100), west (turn to 140) or south, into the southeastern corner of the web (turn to 50).
You try desperately to hold onto the chain, but it is to no avail! Midway across the pit your grip slips and you tumble downwards.
The pit itself is fairly shallow, entailing only about a seven foot drop. The bottom, however, is lined with jagged metal spikes, all pointing upwards. You catch only the quickest glance of these before your body is impaled upon them, leaving you to twitch and moan for several minutes before the dark of death overtakes you.
Your adventure ends here...
You gather your rope and place it again within your backpack. The spike, however, refuses to budge from the earth. Apparently the ground is much more solid beneath its surface than on top. Scratch one of your iron spikes off your Adventure Sheet. You then leave the room to continue your quest. Turn to 218.
You follow the passage southward, watching as the dull glow grows brighter and brighter. At last you can make out the source of the glow.
A small brazier stands against the right hand wall of the corridor, filled with a heap of burning, hot coals. You squat low to look for a source of the heat, but can discern none. Surely these embers burn magically.
Will you search through the coals with the tip of your sword? If so, turn to 347.
Or would you rather bypass the burning brazier and continue south? Turn to 123.
As soon as you step into this region, your feet become firmly stuck to the web!
The place where you saw the helmet is now some three feet to the east and three feet to the north. The doorway lies some nine feet west and three feet north.
You try to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must decide whether to step north (turn to 133), east (turn to 136), south (turn to 408) or west (turn to 492).
You draw a deep, preparatory breath, clench your eyes shut and step forward, into the mirror. The sensation as your body passes through its liquidy surface is bizarre, as if a low grade electrical shock is being applied to you. You even feel your hair standing on end. Then you are through and you let out your breath and open your eyes.
You are standing in a small room with round, red brick walls. The only exit seems to be back through the mirror behind you.
The most shocking feature of the room, however, is yourself, who is standing before you. It takes a moment for your brain to wrap around the concept, but you realize that, standing at the centre of the room is an exact replica of you. No, not exact. Your sword is buckled on the right, whereas his is buckled on the left. In fact, everything about his physical appearance seems the reverse of yours from left to right.
"Hello, me," the reverse version of you states in a calm voice. It raises its left hand in salute. "I am you," it informs you.
If you would like to draw your sword and immediately fight this other version of you before it can do the same to you, turn to 206.
If you would prefer to wait and see what its next move is, turn to 304.
Or, if this is all just too weird, you can turn and try to dive back through the mirror surface - turn to 437.
Gripping the rope firmly, you give it a hefty tug and then try to dance back out of the way as part of the ceiling collapses.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 474. If you are Unlucky, turn to 169.
You are trussed so securely that you can scarcely move. You try to maneuver an arm, to grasp your sword and use it to saw the ropes, but you are too tightly bound, and the sword is so large that you would not be able to handle it within these confines anyway. You are trapped in the net.
Months pass, and your body does its fair job of decomposing. From time to time, small pieces of your corpse drop through the mesh, but that is the closest you ever come to freedom.
Your adventure ends here...
You tread cautiously over to the corner of the room. Turning to look back at the door, gauging how long it will take you to sprint to its safety, you stoop and close your hand around the mallet's handle. Warily, you stand straight again, bringing the mallet up off the floor. You pause, waiting for a reaction, a trap, anything. But nothing happens. Still uncertain, you cross back to the door and out into the hallway. Only once outside again do you realize you've been holding your breath, which you now let out on a heavy sigh.
Note the wooden mallet on your Adventure Sheet. Placing it in your backpack, you continue your northward trek down the hall. Turn to 359.
You are nearing the far edge of the pit when you feel gravity working its magic. You may have miscalculated the distance, or perhaps did not take into account the extra burden of the equipment you are carrying. The end result is the same, either way. You fall short of the far edge, your fingers just touching on the opposite lip of the pit before your body drops into darkness.
The pit is fairly deep, some seventeen or eighteen feet, but fortunately your feet hit first, your legs absorb some of the shock, and then you collapse onto your back where your backpack further cushions your fall. Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you haul yourself to your feet.
Do you have any potions? If so, turn to 504.
If not turn to 146.
Picking yourself up and dusting yourself off, you now consider your situation.
The pit is only about seventeen or eighteen feet deep, and the walls are somewhat uneven. You might be able to climb back out. It seems you have no choice but to try.
As you are reaching for the wall to start, however, you notice, lying on the ground in the corner, an old, discarded, leather sack, with a tight set of drawstrings at the top. The bag itself is empty, was probably dropped by some other adventurer leaping the pit years before. It might come in useful, however, so you place it in your backpack.
You now grip the wall and begin to climb.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 131. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 39.
You run forward, but clumsily trip over your own feet, landing prostrate on the floor, directly in the path of the oncoming pendulum blade! In desperation you try to scramble out of the way, but it is far too late! The blade sweeps down and your shriek of agony, coupled with the sound of your body being neatly bisected, are the last sounds you hear.
Your adventure ends here...
You cautiously reach out to take the rolled parchment. As soon as your hand touches it, however, the statue twitches and comes to life! You jump back, startled, leaving the parchment in the statue's backpack.
The warrior statue turns to face you, raising its mighty stone sword. You must fight it.
LIVING STATUE SKILL 10 STAMINA 11
After 3 attack rounds you may escape by running eastward down the passage (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA points for fleeing) and turning to 279.
If you kill the LIVING STATUE turn to 416.
You see that the glimmer actually belongs to a small copper key which your lamp is shining upon. However, the key seems embedded into the stone face of the wall itself. Will you take a moment to try to pry the key from the wall with the tip of your sword? If so, turn to 502.
If that seems like tempting fate too much, leap down from the alcove now and dash either to the door in the north wall (turn to 6) or back to the main entry room to choose a different path (turn to 73). Or, after leaping to the ground, you may try to jump onto the pendulum again, this time to ride it to the western alcove (turn to 189).
The mirror is apparently quite fragile, and, misjudging your own strength, the tip of your sword shatters the entire thing. Glass tinkles to the ground and you dance back out of the way to avoid being cut.
Behind the mirror is only brick wall.
You leave the broken mirror and head north down the passage again. Turn to 182.
The arrow whistles past your left ear, narrowly missing you, and digging itself into the mud beside you. You stoop to retrieve it, but find that the shaft has shattered, and you drop it back to the ground. You now step through the doorway and into the room beyond. Turn to 321.
The Minotaur is a fearsome opponent, but ducking under one of its blows, you swing your sword with all your might and succeed in chopping off one of its horns. It roars in rage and bewilderment and you seize the opportunity to neatly lop off its head.
As the Minotaur's body crumples to the floor, you snatch up its leather bag and open it. You are delighted to see two large diamonds within. You place the diamonds into your backpack and are preparing to leave when you notice that the Minotaur's horn is, to your amazement, hollow, with a small hole in its sharpened end. Seizing on an idea you pick up the horn and blow into its sharp end experimentally. A low and lonely note emanates from the horn, echoing off the cavern walls. Satisfied, you place this in your backpack too. Make a note of all your finds on your Adventure Sheet.
You then set off into the eastern tunnel. Turn to 129.
The door is difficult to open, gritting forcefully on the floor. It appears to have been constructed with little or no space between its base and the ground. Tugging hard you manage to open it wide enough to reveal a shallow room with simple, brick walls. There appear to be no exits from the room except the doorway you stand in. High up on each of the northern, eastern and western walls you can see dark slits, each only about an inch high and perhaps six inches across.
Opposite you, against the eastern wall, is a plinth made of some odd, greenish material you do not recognize. The plinth stands to a height of approximately three feet and atop it, facing you, rests the grinning form of a human skull. At the base of the plinth are a jumbled pile of bones.
The room appears empty otherwise.
Will you cross the room to investigate the skull on the plinth? If so, turn to 364.
Otherwise, force the door closed again and head north down the tunnel by turning to 103.
The boat man reaches a skeletal hand up and casts its cowl back from its head, revealing the skull atop its spiny neck. Its jaw drops open in some silent command and the boat man's pole turns into a vicious looking scythe. It steps to the front of the boat and levels the scythe at you. You must fight the boat man.
BOAT MAN SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 181.
If you lose, turn to 42.
You are struggling through the deep waters of the subterranean lake, the world around you obscured by tendrils of mist when, in the foggy distance, you can make out a low shape, moving in the water toward you. You grip your sword tightly.
Should you continue swimming toward the object in the water? If so, turn to 36.
Or should you paddle as hard as you can back to the beach? Turn to 197.
Your other self walks up to a portion of the round, brick wall and presses on one of the bricks. Immediately a section of the wall slides back, revealing a secret passage! The other You steps through, indicating that you are to follow.
The room that your other self has led you into is very small, red brick like the last room, but square this time. On the floor in the centre of the room are a set of iron weights.
The You bends down and with a great heave, muscles straining, lifts the second largest weight from the ground. He lets it drop back to the earth with a grunt and sigh. He stands and addresses you.
"I am an exact copy of you," he tells you. "I know, therefore, my limits, which are the same as yours. I would have great difficulty lifting the largest of the weights, and that is what I want you to do."
You eye the largest of the weights, realizing just how heavy it looks. But you decide to try.
Roll 2 dice and add 2 to the number rolled. If this total is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 219. If this total is greater than your SKILL, turn to 200.
Confident in your magic boots, you stride across the hot coals without feeling a thing. On the other side, the passage turns again to solid floor and you continue along it. Turn to 30.
The surface of the door and its thoroughly rusted handle are slicked with damp and mist. The wood is very rotten, patched here and there with an iridescent fungus. You heave it open and after a moment's loud protest from the door's hinges the entire door collapses toward you, falling from the doorframe. You step back quickly, out of the way, and it lands in the sand, spraying grit out to either side.
Stepping over the rotted door you hold your light aloft and peer into the darkness of a hallway beyond. Its walls are comprised of loose stone, also fairly wet toward the mouth of the tunnel. The same fungus grows in scattered quilts up and down the walls. The floor is made of cracked and gritty flagstone.
You step into the tunnel and have only proceeded down it for less than a minute when you come to a door in the eastern wall. The tunnel is drier at this point and the door appears quite solid. Placing your ear against its surface you hear nothing.
The tunnel still continues to the north, tapering into darkness, though you might be able to see another door in the western wall just a little further on.
Will you open the door in the eastern wall? If so, turn to 153.
Otherwise, continue north down the tunnel by turning to 103.
With the tip of your sword you unscrew the vent and remove it from the wall, placing it to rest unevenly on the floor. Fitting your fingers into cracks in the crumbling brick, you heave your body up and into the shaft. There is room enough for you to crawl on your hands and knees, though your backpack brushes along the surface of the vent shaft.
Breathing shallowly, you begin to crawl forward.
About sixty feet into the vent you come to an unnerving barrier. A huge tangle of spider webs fills the vent ahead of you, and you can see by your light many BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS crawling lazily back and forth along its strands.
You glance back over your shoulder, realizing how difficult it will be to shimmy backward to the vent where you entered, and for that reason decide that the best way to go is forward.
If you have a torch you can try to burn the spider webs by turning to 14.
Or, if you don't have a torch, or prefer not to burn the webs, you can throw yourself through and hope for the best by turning to 77.
You reach into your backpack and retrieve the copper key. You are delighted to discover that it fits the lock perfectly, and you are able to swing the gate open. Walking past it you find a corridor that runs northward for only about twenty feet before reaching a junction. The passage there continues north, and a new passage leads west.
Will you continue heading north? Turn to 293.
Or will you head west? Turn to 354.
Alternatively you may walk back through the gate, shutting it behind you, to return to the pendulum room to try a new course of action - turn to 269.
You step into the room, peering from side to side. Suddenly, a misty form begins rising from the ground, wispy and immaterial at first, but taking on enough solidity eventually that you can at least recognize its vaguely human shape. You are still able to see clear through the translucent form to the wall behind it, however.
"Leave," the form hisses, its voice a hollow whisper of wind.
You stare at the strange shape, dumbfounded.
"Leave," the shape repeats, and begins a slow, hovering advance toward you, misty arms outstretched in menace.
Will you leave as it asks and continue down the corridor? If so, turn to 453.
If you would rather draw your sword to fight this being, turn to 344.
You miss the flute with the flat of your sword and the flute drops away into darkness. You hear it strike the bottom of the pit with a muddy plop.
If you have any length of rope you could try tying it to an outcropping of rock from the wall and lowering yourself into the pit, (dropping the last five or six feet if your rope is only six feet long), by turning to 63.
Otherwise, you'll just have to leave the flute behind, leave the room, and continue on your way - turn to 218.
Your muscled legs propel you safely to the other side of the pit. Leaning back over it and shining your lamp, you see that the pit is fairly deep. You can barely make out its shadowy bottom some seventeen or eighteen feet down. Happy that you crossed it safely, you continue west down the passage, whistling merrily to yourself. Turn to 314.
You draw your sword and leap down into the pit to fight the GIANT PYTHON. It rears up, hissing loudly at you.
GIANT PYTHON SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If you kill the GIANT PYTHON, turn to 209
As the boat draws near you wave the lantern in the air to make sure you are seen and address the boat man by calling, "Hello! Can you help me?"
The boat draws closer yet, and as it does you begin to make out further details of the boat man. You are alarmed to see that the figure's hands, which grip the pole, are actually skeletal! It turns its cowled head toward you and lifts one bony hand to the cowl, retracting it. The figure's head is that of a hollow eyed skull!
The skull's jaw drops in some silent command, and instantly the figure's pole transforms into a wicked looking scythe.
The boat man swipes at you with this, narrowly missing. He is far more maneuverable in his boat than you are, swimming one armed. You have no choice but to fight him, here in the water.
BOAT MAN SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
Subtract 2 from your SKILL for the duration of this combat since you are having enough trouble just keeping your head above water.
If you win, clamber up into the boat and turn to 181.
If you lose, the boat man hauls you up into the boat. Turn to 42.
Much to your surprise, you feel something depress behind your back and the wall suddenly swings inward! You have inadvertently found a secret door! Add 1 Luck point.
Very pleased with yourself, you get back to your feet and turn to see what may lie beyond the secret door.
You seem to be looking at water of some sort, with an object on the ground in front of it. You shuffle forward, into the secret door's archway to get a better look.
The object appears to be a wooden chest of fair size. Its lid is closed and latched, but from here it does not appear to be locked.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north and south are natural cave walls, as is the wall in which you found the secret passage. In the northern wall stands a closed, wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
The water looks much too cold to swim in if you don't have to, so you decide against it.
Will you approach the chest and open it? If so, turn to 254.
Or would you prefer to open the door in the north wall? Turn to 158.
It is a fierce battle, but at last the WYVERN lays dead at your feet. You light up your torch again and are relieved when its golden light fills your surroundings.
You look up into the hole in the ceiling and realize there is no real way for you to climb up into it to investigate. It is too high up and the few jutting rocks which you might be able to snag with a rope look loose and weak.
You step over the WYVERN'S body and continue east down the corridor. You are approaching a junction ahead where the path splits to the north and south when you hear a strange grating sound. Slabs of stone suddenly lower to cut off the passages north and south.
The eastern wall is cracked and crumbling, and a large hole stands in the middle, blocked by a rounded boulder. You approach this boulder and push as hard as you can, finally rolling it aside and providing yourself with a path onward. Beyond you can make out a large room. You step through the hole in the wall and hold your light high. Turn to 350.
You are able to step back to the exact area where you freed your feet after your fight with the spider, ensuring that the resin is cleared away and enabling you to stand safely. The doorway is now to your immediate west and you may step through it if you wish, leaving the web room to head west back to the junction, there to try the western passage (turn to 255). The place where you saw the helmet is now nine feet to your east and you may step in this direction by turning to 187. Or you may step to the south (turn to 252) or the north (turn to 106).
You are showered with pieces of soft stone, but something heavier and sharper connects solidly with your head, knocking you off balance. Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
Getting back to your knees you crawl forward to investigate what has hit you. Attached to the other end of the rope are three small, iron boxes. You try each lid, but all are locked, and their lips are too compressed to allow you to try to pry them apart with your sword point.
If you have any keys, you try each in turn on the small locks, but none of them fit.
You place all three boxes, with the rope still attached, into your backpack (note them on your Adventure Sheet) and continue west down the passage. Turn to 171.
Will you:
Climb down into the footprint to investigate the pouch at its centre? Turn to 275.
Edge around the footprint to continue east? Turn to 390.
Or return to the previous junction to take another path? Turn to 446.
The passage continues westerly for another sixty feet before making a sharp turn to the south. Rounding this corner you can see that your progress is blocked by a large, rounded pool of greenish slime. There is no room to progress around the sides of the pool.
Hanging from metal hooks in the ceiling are a series of four short ropes. The first one hangs just at the northern most lip of the pool, while the others progress to the southern most lip.
You must progress onwards, so will you:
Wade through the slime to the other side? If so, turn to 468.
Try swinging hand over hand across the ropes to the other side of the slime? If so, turn to 320.
Or, try touching the slime with the tip of your sword? If so, turn to 258.
You keep the rhythm steady and creep subtly by the GIANT COBRA. It makes no aggressive move against you and you are soon able to continue on your way. Turn to 5.
The trap door is locked, but you feel some give when you muscle it. Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than your SKILL score, turn to 111. If the result is equal to or greater than your SKILL score, turn to 256.
Grimacing, you thrust the blade of your sword into the blood. It encounters no resistance, and you realize that the pool must run at least four feet deep. You swish the sword from side to side, raising small bubbles in the blood, but nothing of any import happens. At last, you withdraw your sword from the blood and clean it as best you can on the edge of the well. You then turn and make your way to the door in the western wall. Turn to 90.
Your sword tip gently touches the mirror, encountering only glass.
You may now reach out and touch the mirror with your hand (turn to 21), or you may leave the mirror and continue north (turn to 182).
Your two gold pieces drop easily into the coin slot. Deduct these from your Adventure Sheet. The manacles holding the rope suddenly release, and the rope drops in a coil to the floor. You stoop and retrieve it, placing it in your backpack. Record that you now have 50 feet of rope on your Adventure Sheet.
If you have the necessary gold you may try now to buy any item you have not already tried before.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the knife, turn to 193.
If you have 4 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the potion, turn to 230.
If you have 1 gold piece and wish to spend it on the torch, turn to 469.
If you have 5 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the shining sword, turn to 79.
Or you may leave the room, returning to the junction, and head either north, down the passage (turn to 331) or back to the main entry to try a different room (turn to 73).
"Is there no way you will let me pass?" you demand of the hobgoblin king, motioning to the door in the southern wall and trying to appear less frightened than you really are.
The hobgoblin eyes you for a moment, squinting in suspicion and thought. He gestures for his goblin minions to stop advancing and finally clears his throat. He begins to speak. "Not so long ago," he growls, "I discovered that one of my own people, a mischievous trouble-maker, had been toying with my crown as I slept." He turns and points to a small, cracked goblin skull on a table near to his chair. "I dealt with the problem," he tells you, "but not before the imbecile had damaged my crown. I discovered a single one of the garnets which stud my crown to be missing. I searched his body, thinking him a thief as well as a fool, but he did not have it on him. Perhaps he had an accomplice. Or perhaps a rat simply skittered away with it."
The hobgoblin stands, the black sword's hilt fit neatly into one clawed hand. He steps toward you and the goblins dutifully part to allow him passage.
"Now," he continues, "even if, by some miracle of chance, you have the garnet, I could simply kill you and take it." He stops before you, eyeing you, looking for any sign of your fear or weakness. Finally, he looks back into your eyes. "But that garnet means a lot to me, for reasons of my own. If you actually have it, and will give it to me, I will allow you to pass."
Do you have a garnet? If so, and you wish to give it to the hobgoblin king, turn to 71.
If not, or you will not part with it, your only remaining recourse is to snatch up your sword and attack - turn to 96.
It is a fierce battle, but at last the WYVERN lays dead at your feet. You look up into the hole in the ceiling and realize there is no real way for you to climb up into it to investigate. It is too high up and the few jutting rocks which you might be able to snag with a rope look loose and weak.
You step over the WYVERN'S body and continue east down the corridor. You are approaching a junction ahead where the path splits to the north and south when you hear a strange grating sound. Slabs of stone suddenly lower to cut off the passages north and south.
The eastern wall is cracked and crumbling, and a large hole stands in the middle, blocked by a rounded boulder. You approach this boulder and push as hard as you can, finally rolling it aside and providing yourself with a path onward. Beyond you can make out a large room. You step through the hole in the wall and hold your light high. Turn to 350.
Allibor is not ready for your sudden onslaught, as the corpse writhes in agony on the floor. It tries to recover, but you have injured it severely and caught it off guard as well. This will be a much easier fight than it could have been.
ALLIBOR SKILL 10 STAMINA 12
If you win, turn to 507.
Your other self frowns deeply and overturns his card. It is the Jack of Spades.
"Wrong," he intones, and gets to his feet, drawing his sword.
It seems your other self intends you harm. You must fight him. He has SKILL and STAMINA both identical to your own at present.
You may escape any time after the second round of combat (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA for fleeing) by running out of the secret room and charging through the mirror - turn to 437.
If you win, turn to 109.
The boat man now lays crumpled in the middle of the boat. As you watch on, his scythe slowly metamorphoses back into a long pole. Picking this up, you step over the boat man's body and take his old place in the rear of the craft. Glimpsing sandy shore through a break in the mists you begin directing the boat in this direction.
A short time later you arrive at a sandy beach in the western edge of the great cavern and drive the boat's nose up onto the shore. You rest the pole atop the boat man's broken body and hop out of the boat, feet splashing in cold water, rather than step over the boat man's corpse again. You step up onto dry land.
Behind you, to the east, lies the cold expanse of the underground lake.
Ahead of you is a small, enclosed beach. The walls to the north, west and south are made of natural stone. There is a closed, wooden door in the north wall.
Near at hand, sitting upright in the sand, is a fair sized, wooden chest. It is closed and latched, but does not appear locked.
Would you like to open the chest? If so, turn to 254.
If you would prefer to leave it and instead open the door in the north wall, turn to 158.
After a short while the passage turns to the east, and soon after that turns northward again. You follow it down this northbound corridor for a very long way before the corridor opens into an expansive cavern. Stalactites drip down from the ceiling like nubby fingers, almost touching on the glassy surface of what you are amazed to see is an underground lake. Gentle tendrils of mist float across the still surface of the water, which spreads like a blanket up onto a sandy, subterranean beach.
Protruding from the sand near at hand is a wooden sign post. Holding your lamp higher to read it you can make out the words "The bull horn finds the boat." Beside that, in brackets, is the phrase "(1 gold piece)".
If you have a Minotaur horn and would like to sound it, turn to 3.
If you do not, or you prefer not to blow it, then you have no choice but to swim the lake. Turn to 291.
Luckily you had the foresight to place your backpack, with the torch inside, next to your lantern before entering the pool. The backpack probably protected the torch from getting too wet.
You feel your way to the backpack and open it, fumbling out the torch and tinderbox. Both are dry! You strike a spark and soon have the torch flaring. Looking down at the shattered remnants of your lamp you can see a crack in its casing and a dark trail of oil which has seeped to mingle with the pool's water. The lamp will never function again.
Under the new torchlight you can see that there is a piece of parchment tacked to the door in the eastern wall. You step toward this and can read the words "EXTREME DANGER! DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR!" Placing your ear against the door you can hear nothing.
The torchlight bounces and weaves. You wonder how long the torch will last. Considering this, you decide that heading backwards at this point would probably not be a good idea. You don't want to be trapped in the labyrinth without a light.
That leaves you with two options. You may open the door in the eastern wall despite its warning (turn to 273), or you can place the torch a safe distance from the pool and climb back into the water to investigate the source of the pool's current (turn to 238).
You flee from the Minotaur, sprinting into the eastern passageway. Fortunately, the Minotaur does not follow. Turn to 129.
Keeping a wary eye on the working Minotaur, you tiptoe toward the eastern passage.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 17. If you are Unlucky, turn to 260
The lantern seems to be your only hope for light, but fumbling your way over to it you find that it is hopelessly shattered, and most of its oil has leaked. It is useless. Turn to 93.
As your foot touches down on the web it becomes stuck. The place where the helmet was is now only six feet out of reach to the east. The doorway is some six feet to the west. You try to rip your foot free of its perch.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to rip your leg free and must decide whether to go east (turn to 133), or step back toward the door some six feet out of reach to west (turn to 168), or step to the south (turn to 492), or step to the north (turn to 475).
Your other self frowns deeply and overturns his card. It is the Jack of Spades.
"Wrong," he intones, and gets to his feet, drawing his sword.
It seems your other self intends you harm. You must fight him. He has SKILL and STAMINA both identical to your own at present.
You may escape any time after the second round of combat (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA for fleeing) by running out of the secret room and charging through the mirror - turn to 437.
If you win, turn to 109.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than your SKILL score, turn to 442.
If the result is equal to or higher than your SKILL score, turn to 147.
The screen appears to be made of some opaque crystal, not a cloth scrim as you had originally surmised. You touch it and push on it and fiddle with it in every possible way, but the screen does not move and nothing happens.
If you have not done so already, you may now sit in the plush chair by turning to 9. Otherwise you may exit through the door to the east by turning to 506.
Stepping cautiously, you follow the white spiral pattern in until you stand at the centre of the pattern. You bend over and pick up the black pearl, rolling it in your palm and examining it. It is cool and appears flawless. Note it on your Adventure Sheet. Placing it in your backpack you now consider your options.
Will you walk straight out, to the door? If so, turn to 261.
If you would rather follow the white spiral back out again, turn to 466.
If you would prefer to trace the black spiral out, turn to 372.
You run in terror down the hall, glancing back over your shoulder once. You see a dragon-like creature burst from the hole in the ceiling and begin flying along the hall toward you. It is a little smaller than most dragons and you recognize it as a WYVERN immediately, a creature that lacks the dragon's ability to breathe fire.
You turn your head forward again and it is just as well that you did because you are approaching another junction. Ahead the passage forks to the north and south, and the eastern wall, cracked and crumbling, appears to contain a passage as well, though this looks blocked by a rounded boulder.
As you near the junction you hear a strange grating sound, and see two large slabs of stone drop to block the exits to the north and south. The only potential way onward seems to be past the boulder.
The WYVERN is some fifty feet behind you down the hall and gaining fast.
Will you try to roll the boulder out of your way to escape down the passage to the east? If so, turn to 427.
Or will you turn to face the WYVERN? Turn to 484.
You let the two gold coins fall into the coin slot, one after the other. Deduct these from your Adventure Sheet. A lock mechanism clicks loudly within the manacle holding the knife and the manacles release. You grasp the knife before it can hit the floor, and secure it and its sheath to your belt. Record it on your Adventure Sheet. You may now, if you haven't already, and if you have sufficient gold, try to purchase one of the other items.
If you have 4 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the potion, turn to 230.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the rope, turn to 176.
If you have 1 gold piece and wish to spend it on the torch, turn to 469.
If you have 5 gold pieces and wish to spend these on the shining sword, turn to 79.
Or you may leave the room, returning to the junction in the passage to head either north (turn to 331) or south to the main entry chamber, there to choose a different door (turn to 73).
The passage leads west for some hundred feet before ending at a closed wooden door. You listen carefully at it but hear nothing beyond.
Will you open the door? If so, turn to 394.
Or would you rather hustle back to the junction and try the eastern passage? If so, turn to 429.
Your other self smiles broadly and overturns his card. It is a Jack of Spades! You were right!
"Well done," the You says. "You have passed the mental test. I will now reward you with a gift." He removes his backpack and lays it on the table, opening it. "You may remove any 1 object from this backpack that you desire."
The contents of the You's backpack are identical to your own. If you have any provisions in your backpack, the You tells you he will allow you to take up to 3 of his own (but you cannot take more than you have in your own backpack), and if you have any gold the You allows you to take up to 3 of his gold pieces (but you cannot take more than you have in your own backpack). Potions or any other item are also allowed but remember that you can only take one item (except in the case of provisions or gold in which case you may take up to 3, though these 3 count as your single item choice), and you cannot take his sword, leather armour or lantern.
Duplicate: GoldDuplicate:3 Gold
Duplicate: 1 ProvisionsDuplicate: 2 ProvisionsDuplicate: 3 Provisions
Both of your selfs are happy. Add 1 Luck point.
Saying your goodbyes, you leave the secret room and pass again into the hall beyond the mirror, there turning north to continue on your way. Turn to 182.
The passage soon culminates at a hefty wooden door which blocks your way forward. The jaw bone of some large carnivore has been bolted to the surface of this door, perhaps as a warning against intruders.
Putting your ear against the door you can hear low, whispering voices bickering back and forth. It is impossible to discern how many voices you are hearing. Having no other way to progress, however, you draw your sword and kick the door open.
You are standing in the doorway of a massive room, filled with low wooden tables and chairs and straw pallets scattered throughout. Torches burn on the walls, providing light into the furthest corners. A lone door stands closed in the southern wall of the chamber.
Seated on the floor or in chairs, surrounding a single high backed chair are roughly twenty small, grotesque humanoids who leap to their feet at your entry. All of them wield short swords and curved daggers. You recognize them instantly as goblins.
In the high backed chair sits a similar creature, but larger than the others, whom you know must be a hobgoblin. He is draped in rich robes and wears a crown studded with small red gems upon his head. In his lap rests a heavy, black sword.
Facing this many goblins you doubt you would have much chance of survival.
Will you drop your sword in a gesture of peace? If so, turn to 198.
If you would rather shout your battle cry and charge in to fight the twenty goblins and their hobgoblin leader, turn to 96.
Tired and out of breath you slump down on the beach to rest. You are still in the same predicament, however, with no way on but to swim the lake. After you have rested a while, you bring yourself to a seat, hands clasped about your knees, and survey the murky water to decide what to do next.
Would you prefer now to try swimming to the west (turn to 23), or the north (turn to 235)? Alternately, you may try your luck with the whatever was in the water to the northwest and try that route again (turn to 155).
You drop your sword to the ground and raise your hands over your head, hoping the horde will be merciful.
"You see, my people," the hobgoblin king laughs in a low, growling voice. "I told you we would not go hungry."
With a shock you realize that he must be implying that he and the goblins should eat you. Some of the more bold goblins have already begun creeping toward you.
Will you now snatch up your sword to do battle against hopeless odds? If so, turn to 96.
Or would you prefer to try to bargain your way out of this situation? Turn to 177.
You spin and lunge for the shield as jagged bits of stone fall all around you. Roll 1 die and subtract 3 . If this number is positive, lose this many STAMINA points from the falling rocks.
Holding the shield over your head, you then run for the safety of the hallway. Fortunately, the shield protects you from any further damage.
When you reach the hall, you are amazed to realize that the corridor itself is steady and calm, while the room you just fled is still rumbling and shaking. You turn to look back inside. As you watch, the chunks of stone falling from the ceiling grow ever larger until eventually the entire room collapses, filling the archway in front of you with rubble and choking sprays of dust.
If you have not already added the shield to your Adventure Sheet, do so now.
Pleased both with your new prize and your narrow survival, you continue northward down the corridor. Turn to 368.
You step forward and grasp the weight with both hands. Crouching low and flexing your thighs, you heave with all your might. Your face turns red with the exertion, but the weight is simply too heavy for you. You stand with a look of resignation.
"I'm sorry," your other self says to you, shaking his head. "But you fail." He draws his sword.
It seems your other self intends you harm. You must fight him. He has SKILL and STAMINA both identical to your own at present.
You may escape any time after the second round of combat (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA for fleeing) by running out of the secret room and charging through the mirror - turn to 437.
If you win, turn to 109.
Down the corridor ahead of you, you can make out the statue of a burly, armed warrior, looking very menacing in his stone-carved suit of platemail. You approach it cautiously and at last stand before the silent warrior, eyeing his hefty form.
If you would like to examine the statue more closely, turn to 494.
If you would rather hurry on by it, turn to 279.
You reach the mound and crouch, hands wrapped protectively over your head. You feel a great tremor as the giant foot impacts with the ground, but you, yourself remain unharmed. Opening your eyes and peering around you see that there is a four foot diameter hole in the centre of the stone foot, which you now crouch in. The foot itself is about three feet thick, made of solid stone. As you crouch, deciding what to do, you hear a strange squeaking sound above you, and the foot begins to rise again, hoisting toward the ceiling, guided by black cables.
Without leaving the safety of the mound, you turn your attention now to the pouch. Opening it, you are happy to discover 4 gold pieces inside, which you add to your backpack (note them on your Adventure Sheet).
Then, moving cautiously, watching for any more trip wires, you make your way to the opposite edge of the footprint, climb out of it, and continue on your way. Turn to 390.
The door opens to reveal a small, enclosed room with polished obsianus walls which reflect the light in your hand darkly. The room appears circular, and the walls stretch up to meet in a black dome over your head. There appears to be no other exit but the doorway you now occupy.
The floor, unlike the walls, is simple gray flagstone. However, painted on the floor, at the centre of the room, is a strange black and white spiral pattern, approximately twenty feet in diameter. At the centre of the spiral, almost unnoticeable from where you stand, is a large, black pearl, resting atop a portion of the white pattern.
Will you walk directly across the pattern to retrieve the pearl? If so, turn to 461.
Or would you rather follow the white spiral pattern in to its centre to reach the pearl (turn to 191), or the black spiral pattern to the centre, to get to the pearl (turn to 99)?
Alternately, you could leave the pattern and the pearl, return to the hallway and keep going north (turn to 28).
Running with your hands outstretched, you feel a large boulder in your path before you can crack your head against it. You feel your way to one side and encounter only a wall.
The shriek comes again from behind you, accompanied by the sound of large wings beating. Unbeknownst to you, you are facing a WYVERN. You have nowhere left to run, and must fight it blindly. Subtract 2 from your SKILL score for the duration of this battle because you cannot see.
WYVERN SKILL 10 STAMINA 14
If you kill the WYVERN turn to 376.
You draw the key from your backpack and set it into the lock. The lock clicks and the doors swing open, letting onto a dark, gray chamber. The walls in this room are sooty, lined with cobwebs. The floor is covered in a thick layer of dust.
A stone door stands opposite the doorway you now occupy. Between you and that door, however, in a depression in the centre of the room, accessed by three stone steps from all sides, is a stone sarcophagus. You have entered Allibor's crypt.
The lid of the sarcophagus suddenly begins to move, sliding to one side, grating loudly with the dust and grit that has accumulated over years. You can see a single, skeletal hand reach out to grip the sarcophagus' stone edge.
You stand, paralyzed with fear, as the lid slides all the way, toppling from the sarcophagus and cracking on the stone ground. A figure begins rising out of it, a skeletal figure with no head. It stands upright and steps casually out of its bed.
A dark and chilling voice echoes from everywhere in the room. It says, "Well done, adventurer. Your travels have amused me. There is only one way out of this room, though, and that is with my death. And, as you can see, I am not easy to kill."
The skeletal figure of Allibor begins advancing toward you, bony hands outstretched.
If you have a flask of holy water, you may draw it quickly from your pack and splash it at the undead Allibor. To do this, turn to 441.
Otherwise, you will have to fight it with your sword. Turn to 64.
The reverse version of you look surprised at your aggressive maneuver, but you are able to get in a single sword swipe at it, drawing a thin line of blood in its cheek, before it can draw its sword.
You must fight the You.
You may try to escape through the mirror after one round of combat by turning to 437 (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA points for fleeing first).
The YOU has identical SKILL to your own and the same STAMINA as you, minus 2 points (because of your initial attack on it).
If you defeat the You, turn to 109.
Fighting with all of your might, feeling the threatening hands of unconsciousness lurking, you manage to pull yourself the few feet, past other old suits of armour, to the glowing leather armour. You snatch at it and it comes free from the hook that had been holding it, but as soon as you do so, it ceases to glow. You are plunged into darkness once more.
This suit of armour is an extremely powerful magical item. While wearing it, you take only 1 point of damage from an enemy's blow in combat, (and none if you successfully use Luck). Note it on your Adventure Sheet (though if you survive this and reach a place where you can breathe again, you will have to immediately cross your old suit of leather armour from your sheet - you have no way to carry both any distance).
Feeling panicked as the last of your breath runs out, you allow the current to carry you.
Oh no! Your backpack has become entangled in one of the other, rusting suits of armour! You are caught! Frantically, you try to free yourself.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 328.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 448.
Holding your arms out to either side, you bring your body up to a stance on the rope. Walking slowly, shifting your balance constantly, you begin making your way across to the other side.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 369. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 232.
You push the huge snake's body out of the way and walk over to the eastern wall of the pit. The wall is smooth, but not made of particularly hard material, and cutting yourself hand and toe holds with your sword, you are able to climb up without too much difficulty. When you've reached the top, you adjust your backpack and then continue east along your way. Turn to 237.
You put your ear against the door but hear nothing. Gripping your sword anyway, you push the doors open and step through.
You have entered a small, rounded room. The only other exit seems to be a wooden door in the west wall.
At the centre of the room is a raised stone well, intricately carved with the faces of screaming children, hands raised to cover their eyes or rake down on their own cheeks in dismay. A foul stench rises from the well. The stench seems to be blood.
If you would like to approach the well, turn to 62.
Otherwise, leave the room by the western door - turn to 90.
You manage to shake your rope from the whicker basket. Gratefully, you return it to your backpack.
Will you now:
Try to hack a hole in the whicker basket with your sword? If so, turn to 409.
Light the basket on fire with your torch (if you have one)? If so, turn to 447.
Or edge past the basket and continue on your way? If so, turn to 5.
You rush past the DEATH SPECTRE'S still form and come to another platform.
Here, a stone staircase leads down to disappear from sight in the cavern's gloom. Looking up, you note that the chain which originally led down to this platform is now gone.
Turning back, you see that the DEATH SPECTRE has arisen again, and resumed his place in the centre of the bridge! It may be impossible to kill.
Will you walk down the stairs? If so, turn to 399.
If you would rather return to the bridge to confront the DEATH SPECTRE again, turn to 22.
The pouch contains an ivory ring upon which strange runes, possibly magical, have been inscribed.
If you would like to slip the ring onto your finger, turn to 214.
Otherwise you may slip it into your backpack, if you like (note it on your Adventure Sheet) and then continue north down the marble hallway by turning to 489.
The runes are magical - the ring carries a curse of misfortune! Lose 2 LUCK points.
Cursing, you rip the ring from your finger and throw it to the ground. You stomp off to the north. Turn to 489.
You have advanced down this corridor only a short distance when you hear a strange growl come from ahead. You pause, shifting uneasily, as a large form begins lumbering out of the shadows in front of you. With a start, you realized that you are looking at the approaching form of a massive GRIZZLY BEAR! Its dark, hairy hide blended so well with the darkness that you didn't see it until now.
Will you:
Draw your sword and attack it? If so, turn to 477.
Throw it a single portion of your provisions (if you have any left)? If so, turn to 126.
Or drop to the tunnel floor and play dead, hoping the bear will ignore you? If so, turn to 86.
The walls of the passage are comprised of smooth brick, and the ceiling vaults to an arch overhead, with regular stone supports along the passage's length. You have been walking along the corridor for some time when you come to a door in the right hand wall. There is a brass plate fixed to the door's surface at eye level. Embossed on the plate are the words "Stone Age".
Will you open the door? If so, turn to 221.
If you would rather leave the door shut and continue north up the passage, turn to 368.
The key fits the lock and the door swings open onto a small, enclosed room. The walls are made of red brick, the floor and ceiling of smooth, gray stone. Hanging from the wall opposite you is a platinum key, bound tightly in the small manacles of a thick iron chains. Above the key hangs a handwritten note which reads "The price of this key is six gold pieces or one black pearl."
Below this note is a small slot which looks about the right size to take a gold piece. Below the key itself is a small, rounded hole, surely meant for the black pearl the note has mentioned.
The chains and manacles all look far too strong to break or pry apart.
If you have the six gold pieces required and wish to deposit them in the coin slot, turn to 54.
If you have a black pearl and would like to drop it into the rounded hole, turn to 223.
If you have neither of these, or do not wish to risk spending them here, you have no option but to leave the room and continue south by turning to 398.
A short ways beyond the door the passage swings west. There, in the middle of the passage, walking toward you is a massive creature with thick, rough looking, yellowish skin, and black, pupilless eyes. Its loins are girded in animal hide and upon seeing you it lets out a bellow, raising a heavy looking sword over its head. It is a CAVE TROLL, and you must fight it!
CAVE TROLL SKILL 10 STAMINA 11
If you win, turn to 378.
You step forward and grasp the weight with both hands. Crouching low and flexing your thighs, you heave with all your might. Your face turns red with the exertion, but slowly the iron weight begins to rise from the ground. When you have raised it level with your knees your other self nods to you and you allow the weight to drop back to the ground with a loud thud.
"Well done," your other self says to you. "You have passed the physical test. And you have earned a reward."
The You removes his backpack and lays it on the ground. He tells you, "You may remove any 1 object from this backpack that you desire."
The contents of the You's backpack are identical to your own. If you have any provisions in your backpack, the You tells you he will allow you to take up to 3 of his own (but you cannot take more than you have in your own backpack), and if you have any gold the You allows you to take up to 3 of his gold pieces (but you cannot take more than you have in your own backpack). Potions or any other item are also allowed but remember that you can only take one item (except in the case of provisions or gold in which case you may take up to 3, though these 3 count as your single item choice), and you cannot take his sword, leather armour or lantern.
Duplicate: GoldDuplicate:3 Gold
Duplicate: 1 ProvisionsDuplicate: 2 ProvisionsDuplicate: 3 Provisions
Both of your selfs are happy. Add 1 Luck point.
Saying your goodbyes, you leave the secret room and pass again into the hall beyond the mirror, there turning north to continue on your way. Turn to 182.
You grip the trunk as tightly as you can and begin to shimmy down. However, you have only lowered yourself about twenty feet when you lose your grip and begin to fall. You are able to slow your descent somewhat, by clasping at the tree with your thighs, but this gives you painful burns on your legs. You crash into the ground at the base of the tree with jarring force, your legs and hands scraped. Lose 3 STAMINA points. You are just getting to your feet when a terrifying shriek rips out above you, causing your head to swing up. A great shape has blotted out some of the sky and your eyes widen as you recognize what it is. The shape is that of a prehistoric bird, a Pterodactyl, which is swooping down toward you, bony beak opened wide. You have just enough time to draw your sword before it makes its first pass.
You must fight this creature.
PTERODACTYL SKILL 5 STAMINA 4
If you win, turn to 75.
Otherwise, in a short while, what the bird leaves of your battered carcass becomes fertilizer for the plant life in this strange room.
The door opens onto a small room. The floor is made of smooth cement, the walls of brick, and the ceiling of some uneven, pebbly surface.
Hanging on the wall opposite you is a round, polished shield. At its centre is a brass rampant lion, and brass chevrons decorate its outer rim.
There is no exit from the room except the doorway you stand in.
Would you like to cross the room to retrieve the shield? If so, turn to 329.
If you would rather shut the door and continue north, turn to 368.
The web is stronger than it appeared and your first chop succeeds only in carving a large notch into the strand which has ensnared your left foot. The spider has seen your frenzied activity and is rushing toward you. It seems to have no problems crossing the web!
You draw back over your head and bring the sword down as hard as you can. This time your heavy blow succeeds in severing the strand which has captured your left foot, and cuts deep into the strand on your right foot too.
Your weight shifts as your left leg drops through the web, tearing you from your stance and dropping your body toward the dark abyss below. You make a frantic attempt to grasp the web as you pass it, but your momentum is too strong and the feeble strand you grasp snaps easily beneath your weight.
The spider scuttles toward you, not wanting to lose its meal, but the spider is cheated as well. The floor is some seventy feet below and you have only a fleeting moment to ponder your mistake, staring up at the web and the angry spider as you drop and drop and finally impact with darkness and silence. Your adventure ends here...
You place the black pearl into the slot and watch as it rolls inside the wall, disappearing with a hollow "thunk", (cross it from your Adventure Sheet). There is a moment's pause during which you fear you may have squandered the pearl, but all at once the manacles click open and the platinum key drops to the floor. You bend over and retrieve it, placing it in your backpack (record it on your Adventure Sheet). You then leave the room and resume your trek south. Turn to 398.
Pressing the button releases a brake and the cart begins rolling along the track, picking up speed as it follows the slope downward. You cast a single glance back and see the platform dwindling away into shadows before turning forward again.
The car is still accelerating, and the track seems to be getting steeper. You feel your stomach doing somersaults inside you as the track takes on a forty five degree angle. You are moving so fast now, but still accelerating, faster, faster, until at last you can see the end of the track ahead. The track does not leave its forty five degree angle, but continues it straight into the sandy ground of the cavern floor below!
Sandy or not, you hit the ground with great impact. You are thrown from the car where your body collides solidly with the ground, splitting your gut at the side like the seams of a stuffed shirt. You are dead before you have time to feel the pain. Your adventure ends here...
After thirty feet, the passage turns to the east. Turn to 52.
You remove the pink key from your backpack and try it on the lock with the pink edging. The key slides in with no problems and, turning it to the side, you can hear the click of some stone locking mechanism giving way. By pulling on the key you are then able to withdraw the entire brick from the wall. As it slides out you discover that it is hollow, a small, corked bottle resting within. The bottle appears to contain some sort of clear liquid. Uncorking the bottle and sniffing at the contents you can discern nothing; it is odourless.
Would you like to drink the clear liquid? If so, turn to 456.
If you have not already, and you would like to, you may try the purple key in the purple lock by turning to 400.
Or you may leave the brick wall and its keyholes alone and head off either to the west (turn to 363) or the east (turn to 231).
Searching through the CAVE GIANTS bodies you turn up only six gold pieces. (Note these on your Adventure Sheet). Considering your options, you decide that your best course of action is to try to remove the vent from the wall and carry on that way. Turn to 159.
You step up to the fourth door and pull on the handle. The door swings open with surprising ease, the hinges seemingly well oiled. You hold your lamp up within the now open doorway, allowing its sallow light to paint what lay beyond.
The door has opened onto a small room, with barren stone walls. In the centre of the room is a shadowy shape which causes you to gasp and reach for your sword before you realize that the shape is stationary, and of unnatural dimensions. It appears to be some sort of machine. You step forward for a closer look.
The machine is roughly cubicle, with a large, metallic apparatus protruding from its side. On a white panel at its front are two large buttons, one red and one green.
If you wish to press the green button, turn to 115.
If you would rather push the red button, turn to 402.
If you prefer, however, you may push neither and leave the room the way you came, shutting the door behind you, to choose a different door to start your journey, by turning to 73.
You burrow through the sand, first with your sword point, and when this proves fruitless, actually digging with your hands. At the very bottom of the chest, under lairs of grit, you find a small cloth sack with something heavy in it. Pulling this from the chest you open the sack to discover six iron spikes within. Thinking they may prove useful, you put the spikes, sack and all, into your backpack and then head to the door in the northern wall. (Record the 6 Iron Spikes on your Adventure Sheet). Turn to 158.
The 4 gold pieces fall into the coin slot (deduct these from your Adventure Sheet) and the manacles around the potion suddenly release. The potion begins to drop toward the stone floor! You make a wild grab for it.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 108.
If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 382.
Thirty feet along you come to the junction that you saw. Looking down the southern corridor you see that the passage there disappears into darkness, though you think you can make out a door standing slightly ajar on the western wall a short ways down. Looking east you can see a dark smudge on the floor at the edge of your light's range, and think you can distinguish a strange, rasping sound coming from that direction.
Will you head south (turn to 308) or east (turn to 488)?
You are crossing the rope at a slow but steady pace when suddenly your foot slips! You thrust your arms out wide to your sides in a desperate plea for balance, but you are soon tumbling down into the pit! You land on the ground with a jolt. Deduct 1 STAMINA point.
If you are still alive, you quickly get to your feet, drawing your sword and preparing for the onslaught of the GIANT PYTHON which has reared up and is slithering toward you.
GIANT PYTHON SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If you win, turn to 209.
You forgot about your torch when you entered the pool. Sloughing your backpack to the ground, you fumble blindly and feel out your torch and tinderbox. Both are very wet. You try to strike a spark from the tinderbox, but it is futile. The torch probably wouldn't light anyway. Turn to 93.
You draw the platinum key from your backpack and try it in the cage's keyhole. The key fits perfectly and the door clicks open. Owen stumbles through the cage door, tears no longer flowing.
"Thank you," Owen says, but you see a strange gleam in his eye, and are sure you note sarcasm in his voice. "But now that we're friends, I think its only fair to warn you," he whispers, "that you're going to die in here!"
Owen spins and rushes for the golden door. You instinctively give chase, but he has a head start, and the element of surprise. He reaches the door before you can reach him, grasping its handle and throwing it open.
A great jet of flame sprays through the open door, engulfing Owen. He stumbles backward, away from the door, dropping to the floor. The flame ceases to roar through the door, and you rush to his side, but it is too late. He is dead, incinerated.
You are sorry to see him meet his death, despite his arrogance, but you shudder nonetheless when you think that that could have been you, had you opened the door.
"Goodbye, Owen Wayford," you whisper to his still flaming corpse, and make your way to the open doorway. You step through.
You are in another small room. This one is simple, however, with no tiles on the floor or ceiling, just solid stone. A set of golden double doors lead south from here, with a keyhole in the centre of one of them.
As you step forward to investigate, a heavy, iron portcullis drops behind you, blocking all escape in that direction. You try to lift the portcullis but it is far too heavy.
If you are going to get out of this room, you're going to have to go through the double doors. They are locked, however.
Do you have a golden key? If so, turn to 205. If not, turn to 268.
You are struggling to the north, making some halting progress when something strange begins to happen. You can feel an unknown breeze blowing toward you from the north. At first it is gentle, stirring the water in easy ripples and clearing the mists, but as you paddle in place you can feel the breeze growing stronger, turning to something chilling, then to a full gale. The water around you is churned into great, lapping waves that dash against the cave walls to the north of you. This must be some sort of magical trap! You can feel a strange undertow fighting to drag you under.
With the mists cleared you can see that the underground lake fills all of this enclosed cavern except for another small and sandy beach far to the west.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 449. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 404.
You make a lasso from your rope and twirl it about your head, building some momentum. At last you cast the rope at a large, pommel shaped handle at the top of the basket's lid. It takes several attempts, but at last you are able to land the rope on the basket's lid. You then heave forcefully, but either the lid is securely fastened to the basket, or your angle of applied force is all wrong here. Either way, the lid is being stubborn. You pull harder.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 411. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 395.
A short distance past the pit, the corridor once again turns south. You follow it around the corner and soon thereafter arrive at another junction where a passage branches to the west, and the one you have been following continues south.
Looking down the western branch you can see that, a short way down, the passage there turns back the way you have come - to the north. Because of this, you decide to just continue south. Turn to 215.
You place the torch carefully down, far enough from the pool that it is unlikely to get wet, but close enough that it still casts enough light to see by. Then you cautiously lower yourself back into the water.
You can immediately feel that the current is stronger under the water than it is at the surface. Moving along the edge of the pool, you can feel with your feet the point at which the current is strongest.
Intaking a deep breath, you submerge yourself in the pool, head passing under, and hands feeling along the edge for the source of the current. Your feet touch solid bottom only a few feet down - the pool seems only approximately seven feet deep. You open your eyes and realize that you can dimly see.
Directly ahead of you is a grate in the wall, with iron bars blocking a darkened tunnel which would be far too narrow to enter. It is from here that the water is flowing. But where is it flowing to?
Spinning in place, still submerged, you peer into the dreary depths of the pool. Only a few feet away you can see where the water is flowing.
The floor of the pool is tiled with large, ceramic panels, each some five feet across. One of these square tiles has been partially shattered, and the water current seems to be rushing through a narrow gap beneath the tile. You can see only darkness there, but it might be possible to lift this tile, and who knows what would lay beyond? Perhaps a tunnel? Kicking over to the broken tile, you can feel the current racing. It might well be a tunnel. If you could get the tile up, you could investigate.
You kick to the surface, intake a gulp of air and swim back down to the broken tile. With the tip of your sword you start to pry the tile up. There is a loud sucking noise and you can feel the current increase as you fight to lift the tile, but you get a look under it and see that there is indeed a tunnel of some sort leading down at an angle. It may have been an illusion, but it even looked to you like there may be some form of light emanating from deep within the tunnel. And it appears wide enough for you to fit through easily.
You kick your way back to the surface and drag yourself from the pool to decide what to do next.
If it is a tunnel and you wish to explore it, you will need to find a way to protect your torch and tinderbox from getting wet, as you will probably need them on the other side. Of course, do you even want to go swimming into some unknown tunnel, light or no light?
If you have a leather bag, you will be able to secure the torch and tinderbox in this to keep them reasonably dry. Do you have a leather bag? If you do, and you want to store them and try entering the tunnel beneath the tile, turn to 43. If you don't, or if you decide it is too risky to swim into the tunnel, then you have no choice but to open the door in the east and pass through. Turn to 250.
You are swinging toward the fourth rope, but your aim is poor and you miss your grip! You drop toward the slime below. You land in its viscous body with a dull splash and immediately feel a searing pain. The slime is extremely corrosive! Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
Fortunately, you are close enough to the opposite edge that you are able to haul yourself up and out of the slime. Deduct a further 2 STAMINA points for the time it takes you to struggle up onto dry land.
If you are still alive, you clean the residual slime from your legs as best you can by wiping them on the walls, then continue south down the passage. Turn to 88.
The place where you saw the helmet is now just three feet to the south. The doorway is about three feet south and twelve feet east.
This area of the web is not as sticky as many other parts; you are able to stand freely.
Will you step south (turn to 100), west (turn to 270) or north, into the northeastern corner of the web (turn to 340)?
The figure continues walking straight, disappearing around another corner some distance away. When the light from the man's torch has faded and you no longer hear his footsteps, you stand and relight your own light before continuing east toward the junction. Turn to 431.
A short distance along the corridor you come to another junction where the passage branches to the east and also continues south. You see nothing down the eastern corridor, but a short distance ahead, the southbound corridor also turns east and in the corner there you can make out what appears to be a pedestal of some sort. You decide to investigate, and set off south again. Turn to 391.
As the spider's mandibles close about your arm you can see as well as feel its terrible venom coursing into your new wound. It is a harsh, fast acting poison and almost immediately you can feel your body stiffening, your heart rate accelerating painfully and then slowing again.
The spider scuttles backward to await the outcome of its venom, and when you have stopped moving entirely, slumping against the web, it rushes back toward you, turning its mandibles away, and bringing its abdomen to rest atop you. You feel a sticky substance begin cocooning your body. The spider is ensconcing you in web, trussing you up as a snack for later, when it will, at its leisure, suck your body free of all its fluids.
Your adventure ends here, but it doesn't end for several horrifying days of dangling from the web and awaiting your inevitable fate...
Keeping your back against the cliff you wait for each of the prehistoric birds to dive at you. When they do you hack at their passing forms, clipping beak or wing, severing one of the heads completely. At the end of the combat all three of the great birds lay dead and bloody around you.
Still you can hear the further cries of Pterodactyls in the cliffs around. You decide you've had enough of prehistoric birds and run back to the safety of the tree line. From there you jog to the door in the western cliff face. Turn to 82.
The shriek sounds again, and this time you know it is coming from the hole above you. Also the wind is increasing. Something seems to be rushing down at you from the darkness above.
Will you:
Back away from the hole, draw your sword and prepare for battle? Turn to 102.
Or run to the west, back to the junction (turn to 60) or to the east (turn to 192).
As you pull the door open there is the sharp click and twang of a trap being triggered. A dart spits out through the now open door, flying with terrific speed.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 412. If you are Unlucky, turn to 40.
Lashing out with your sword viciously, you manage to sever the top third of the tentacle. Writhing wildly, and spouting a black, inky blood, the tentacle retracts into the water.
You are debating whether or not to continue this swim to the west when you see, some distance ahead, several similar tentacles of varying size arise from the water. Deciding that prudence would be best in this circumstance, you paddle your way back to shore, hauling yourself up onto the beach for a few minutes rest, while you shiver in this cold cavern.
You still have no method of crossing the water other than swimming. You'll have to head either northwest or north.
Catch your breath, and then turn to 235 if you'd like to swim north, or 155 if you'd like to swim northwest.
You travel east for only a moment before spying a single, dusty gold piece laying on the ground ahead of you.
Will you pick up the gold piece (turn to 16) or ignore it and continue east (turn to 38)?
You throw your weight against door, but it is to no avail. The door is made of a heavy wood and refuses to open. You have time to take a single chop at it with your sword before the liquid reaches your boots. There is a loud hissing noise as the liquid, apparently some sort of acid, begins eating at the leather. You turn to charge back toward the plinth, but by this time the acid has flowed up over your feet. It eats through your boots quickly, making short work of your flesh. Screaming in agony you collapse to the floor where the acid is still rising. The acid hisses in time with your cries.
When the acid eventually subsides, seeping down into cracks between the flagstones on the floor, there is revealed a second bleached skeleton on the floor.
Your adventure ends here...
You approach the door and swing it cautiously open, ducking behind it as you do so, in case there should be any merit to the door's warning. Nothing happens, however, so you step around the doorway and peer into a quiet, shadowy hall beyond. You enter. Turn to 498.
Fortunately, you do have some rhythm, and the GIANT COBRA begins to sway mindlessly back and forth.
The GIANT COBRA is now fully out of its basket, and as it sways to one side, its heavy, hooded head knocks the basket off kilter, causing it to crash and clatter to the floor, its lid rolling to one side as this happens. The COBRA flinches back, distracted momentarily, but you keep up a steady rhythm on the flute and the GIANT COBRA soon resumes its mindless sway.
Will you now:
Keep playing as you edge past it down the corridor to continue? If so, turn to 172.
Keep playing as you move to look inside its basket? If so, turn to 413.
As your foot touches down on the web it becomes stuck. The place where the helmet was is now some nine feet to the east and three feet to the north. The doorway is only about three feet to the north and three feet to the west. You try to rip your foot free of its snare.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to rip your leg free and must decide whether to step east (turn to 492), step north toward the doorway (turn to 168), or step south, into the southeastern corner of the room (turn to 274).
Unable to face you all at once, you have a fighting chance against the GIANTS. One by one they fall beneath your blade. When the last one lies dead in the doorway, you search through their clothing. All you find between them is six gold pieces. Note these on your Adventure Sheet.
Stepping over their bodies you enter their room.
The fire is still burning, casting its smoke upward through a small vent in the ceiling. The ceiling is out of reach however, and the vent looks too small to enter.
There appear to be no other exits from the room.
Will you search through the straw at the edges of the room (turn to 134) or would you rather just walk back to the junction and down the western passage? (Turn to 272).
You unlatch the chest and heave its lid open. The hinges, rusted with years of resting in the mist near the lake, protest loudly, but the lid falls back to reveal the chest's contents.
Much to your surprise, you discover that the interior of the chest is filled with sand, identical in colour and consistency to that which comprises the beach you stand on.
If you wish to search through the sand, turn to 229.
If you would prefer to leave the chest alone and open the door in the northern wall, turn to 158.
The corridor continues west for forty feet before turning north. Turn to 330.
You try with all your might, but the trap door won't budge. You have no choice but to return to the pit you dropped down and climb back out.
You are walking, hunched over, through the low tunnel, almost back at the pit, when you hear low and guttural talking ahead. Suddenly, two ugly shapes drop down into the pit ahead of you. You recognize the creatures' gnarled forms almost immediately as Hobgoblins! Both carry wicked scimitars.
Upon spotting you the figures let out a holler and advance. Fortunately the tunnel is small enough that they can only reach you one after the other. Fight the Hobgoblins one at a time.
First HOBGOBLIN SKILL 6 STAMINA 5
Second HOBGOBLIN SKILL 5 STAMINA 6
If you kill them both, turn to 10.
Your movements are almost silent and the bats are not disturbed. When you are safely beyond them you continue walking normally again. Turn to 393.
You draw your sword from its sheath and prod gingerly at the slime with the blade. You are horrified to see the tip of your sword begin to melt immediately upon contact! The slime seems to be some sort of viciously corrosive acid! You quickly draw your sword back from the slime and examine its tip. The end is melted and the first three inches of blade severely blunted. As long as you are using this sword as your weapon, you must deduct 1 from your roll when computing your Attack Strength. Drinking a Potion of Skill will not remedy this problem, though if you find a replacement sword you may, while using it, eliminate the 1 point penalty.
Cursing, you sheath your blunted weapon and reconsider your options.
Will you try wading across the slime to the other side? If so, turn to 468.
Or would you rather try swinging hand over hand on the ropes to the other side? (Turn to 320).
You push the boat out into the water, and climb in, grasping the oars and rowing for the other side. You feel and hear the grit of the other beach as it brushes up beneath the bow, and know that you have reached the other side.
You hop out of the boat and make for the bronze double doors in the southern wall. Turn to 210.
You are tiptoeing quite stealthily toward the eastern exit when the tip of drawn sword suddenly scrapes against the floor. The Minotaur spins, spots you, and bellows with rage. It charges, its horns levelled, pickaxe raised above its head.
You must fight this creature.
MINOTAUR SKILL 9 STAMINA 11
You may escape after 2 rounds through the eastern passage (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA points for fleeing) by turning to 184.
If you defeat the Minotaur, turn to 152.
Otherwise, your beaten and holed body are left on the floor of this cavern, where the pickaxe sized holes make the perfect home for a family of mice, until they are evicted by a nearby horde of rats which prefer to devour you. Your adventure ends here...
You step warily across the pattern, back to the door and out into the hall. From there you turn and continue your trek northward. Turn to 28.
The door opens onto an even larger cavern. Turn to 118.
This branch of the passage leads you east for about five minutes before opening up into a large room. For a moment you hold back, thinking you can see something moving in the room, but after a moment's hard staring you realize what you are seeing. It is only the reflection of your lamp light, bouncing off of water.
At the centre of the room there is a large pool, its surface stirring in gentle waves from some unknown current. The rest of the room consists of barren stone walls and stone floor which encircles the pool completely. On the eastern wall is a closed wooden door.
You step closer to the pool and hold your lamp near to the water. The water seems clear, though it disappears into shadowy depths. Because the light from your lamp does not penetrate deeply, it is impossible to tell how far down the water goes.
Would you like to enter the pool, to investigate its depths? If so, turn to 87.
Or you may walk around the pool to the door - turn to 325
If you wish, you may leave this room the way you came, returning to the junction, there to take the western passage (turn to 299), or south to the previous western branch (turn to 354), or all the way south, through the iron gate, closing it behind you, right back to the pendulum room to reconsider your options (turn to 269).
The DEATH SPECTRE will fight to the end.
DEATH SPECTRE SKILL 11 STAMINA 12
If you win turn to 212.
The fierce current sweeps you through the hole and into spiralling darkness. You feel your consciousness at last slipping away from you, and drop into unconsciousness.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 34.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 285.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 70. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 147.
You are in a very tight position, scarcely able to move, but fortunately one of your hands is pinned near to your knife. You pull it from its sheath and, using just your wrist, begin sawing at the ropes that comprise the net. It takes more than twenty minutes, but eventually you have cut a hole large enough to allow you to escape the net. You drop back to the dusty floor, your boots choking up twin plumes on impact. Thankful that you had the knife, you continue your cautious trek northward. Turn to 53.
You try everything, throwing your weight against the doors, trying to pry them apart with your sword, and struggling to lift the portcullis. All of your efforts come to naught.
You are trapped within this confined space. Victory lies very near at hand, but you never know this. You die of thirst in this tiny space over a period of several agonizing days. Your adventure ends here...
You re-enter the pendulum room through its northern door.
You may try hopping onto the pendulum to ride it into the western niche. Turn to 189.
If you have not done so already you may try leaping onto the pendulum to ride it into the eastern niche. Turn to 41.
Or you may try dashing past the pendulum to reach the door on the southern wall, in the hopes of returning to the main entry chamber to try a different door. Turn to 266.
As soon as you step into this region of the web, your feet become solidly glued to it!
The place where you saw the helmet is saw three feet to the east and three feet to the south. The doorway is approximately nine feet west and three feet south.
You try forcefully to free your feet from the web. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must decide whether to step north (turn to 383), east (turn to 240), south (turn to 133), or west (turn to 475).
You clamber quickly up onto the plinth, knocking the skull down into the liquid which hisses as the skull drops within it. Before the skull disappears beneath the liquid you are sure you can see the bits of flesh that cling to it become dissolved in what you can only assume is some powerful form of acid.
The green acid continues to rise in the room, swallowing the pile of bones whole and creeping upward on the plinth. It reaches the halfway point and still continues to climb. Soon the acid laps just under the top of the plinth.
Mercifully, the flow of acid through the sluices near the ceiling suddenly ceases. Without a source to keep feeding it, the acid begins to slowly subside, filtering down through cracks in the flagstone floor.
It is some twenty minutes before the last of the acid has disappeared, and even so, there are drying pools of the stuff here and there throughout the room. But eventually you are able to clamber down off the plinth.
When your weight has left the plinth the door grates slowly open again, just enough to allow you exit. You step back into the hallway, grateful to be alive, and continue north. Turn to 103.
You walk past the junction and head west, until the passage ends in a closed door some hundred feet in. Listening at it you can hear nothing.
Nudging the door open cautiously you peer into a small chamber devoid of all furniture. The walls are made of crumbling, orange brick, the floor made of cracked stone. The room is only about twenty feet on each side, and there are no other exits except the one you stand in.
On the wall opposite you, about five feet off the ground, is a metal vent, three feet high by two feet wide. Holding your light up to this you can see a metal vent shaft disappearing westward into the gloom.
Since you can think of no other way to proceed but to walk back to the corridor and then all the way south along that long corridor, you decide to remove the vent and see if you can crawl through it.
Turn to 159.
Ducking back behind the door as you do so, in case some foul trap should be sprung, you swing the door open. Nothing happens so you decide to peek cautiously around the edge. All that you can see beyond is a quiet, shadowy hall leading off to the east.
Shall you enter this hall? Turn to 498.
Or will you close the door, place your torch safely aside and investigate the source of the current within the pool? Turn to 238.
As soon as your feet touch down here they become stuck fast.
You are now in the southwest corner of the web. The place where you saw the helmet lies some nine feet to the east and six feet to the north. The doorway lies about six feet north and three feet west.
You try to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free your feet and must decide whether to head north (turn to 252) or east (turn to 476).
You cautiously step down into the giant footprint and begin making your way toward the small pouch. SNAP! You failed to notice a small trip-wire on the ground.
As a rushing sound begins above you, you turn your face upwards and see that a portion of the stone ceiling, shaped exactly like a giant foot, is now dropping toward you. There appears to be a darkened area toward the centre of the stone foot which might be a hole of some sort, or might only be shadow, there is too little time to tell.
Will you:
Attempt to scramble out of the footprint? Turn to 319.
Or dive toward the pouch, which is aligned directly beneath the darkened area of the foot, to hope that it is indeed a hole you saw, and one which will allow you to remain unharmed? Turn to 480.
The door opens onto a small, enclosed, cavern-like room. The walls are made of some strange, yellowish rock and a thick scent of reeking sulphur pervades the air.
If you lost your lantern earlier and are now lighting your way solely by torch, turn to 113.
Otherwise, turn to 312.
The passage goes east for about forty feet before coming to yet another junction. Once again the passage forks to the south and keeps going east. Seeing that a short distance east the passage swings north again, you decide against heading in that direction, since you have been progressing fairly steadily south, and instead try the southern branch. Turn to 8.
You grasp the third rope and swing toward the fourth and final one.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 452. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 239.
After about thirty more feet the passage makes a sharp turn to the north. You follow this for a few moments before spying a junction up ahead, where the path diverts to the west and continues north. There is also a heavy, rounded boulder tucked up against the eastern wall of the corridor where the three passages meet.
As you reach this intersection you hear a strange grating sound and stop to discern what it is. In front of you, a large stone slab has dropped to block the passage to the north. Spinning, you find that the passage to the south has likewise been blocked.
You turn to look down the passage to the west. It is dark there, but you can feel a light breeze stirring from that direction. A loud, horrible shriek suddenly sounds down this corridor, causing you to back up a few steps, directly into the boulder. You wait a moment and, seeing nothing, turn to examine the boulder.
The wall it has been tucked against is cracked and crumbling and you can see a dark hole behind the boulder. Casting one more glance toward the darkened western corridor, you decide against exploring in that direction and instead heave the rounded boulder out of the way, clearing a path through the newly revealed hole in the wall. Beyond seems to lie some sort of large room. Ducking your head, you pass through the hole, then stand straight and hold your light aloft to examine your new surroundings. Turn to 350.
You heave on the iron door and it gives way reluctantly. You are about to shine your light into the darkness beyond when you realize you can already see. There is a dim, flickering illumination coming from ahead in what appears to be an open cavern of some sort. With the door open, the sound of grunting is even louder, coupled now with heavy breathing. The sound of metal striking stone is also louder, though the source of both is still lost to sight.
Will you enter the cavern to investigate? If so, draw your sword and turn cautiously to 436.
Otherwise, you'll have to head back to the main entry chamber, closing the door and curtain behind you, by turning to 73.
You knot the end of the rope into your best lasso and take aim for a silver carved plume atop the helmet. Hitching the rope over your shoulder and twirling it to develop momentum, you at last cast the rope out at the helmet.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 417. If you are Unlucky, turn to 288.
You stretch out your sword and touch its tip to the mirror. Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 150. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 175.
You begin sifting through the rubbish, first with your sword, and then, when nothing untoward seems to occur, with your hands.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 286. If you are Unlucky, turn to 432.
The GIANT COBRA lunges forward, sinking its deadly fangs into one arm. You stumble back in horror, knowing that you are doomed. The cobra flinches away from you, out of reach of your sword, waiting for its venom to kick in. It doesn't take long, and as dizziness and cramps overtake you, you collapse to the floor. The last sound you hear is the rasping of the COBRA'S scales as it slithers across stone floor toward you. Your adventure ends here...
Where the water drags you is a mystery, because you never regain consciousness. You drown in the deep, black, subterranean waters. Your adventure ends here...
You search through the rubbish pile for almost ten minutes and are just ready to give up when you see a glimmer in the pile of junk. You dig frantically, and at last come up with a silver key! You place it in your backpack (note it on your Adventure Sheet) and begin to climb over the mound.
Unfortunately, your digging has upset the balance of the rubbish pile and you feel the whole thing lurch beneath you as you climb toward its apex.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 481. If you are Unlucky, turn to 346.
Sheathing your sword, you step up to the third door and grip its rusted handle. You tug forcefully at the door, but it does not want to budge. Gritting your teeth with the effort, you dig your heels into the mud and heave. At last the door gives, but as it does so you hear a loud clicking sound and you realize that you have already sprung a trap! An arrow whizzes out of a small hole just above the door straight at you!
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 151.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 471.
Despite your best attempts you are never quite able to land the lasso on the helmet. Worse yet, on your final cast the lasso struck a particularly sticky portion of web and is now stuck steadfast! (Cross it off your Adventure Sheet until you are able to retrieve it).
You must now decide:
Should you climb out onto the web to confront the spider? If so, turn to 472.
If you would rather abandon both the helmet and your rope you may flee the spider back to the west, passing the junction to try the new passage there, by turning to 255.
The passage is low, with a natural stone ceiling, so you are forced to walk hunched over, picking your way over loose stones which litter the ground. After about ten minutes of halting progress to the northwest you come to a ladder leading upward to a closed trap door. You can see a keyhole in one side of the door.
If you wish to be polite, you may knock on the trap door by turning to 296.
Or you may simply open it yourself - turn to 173.
Hacking and slashing, you cut yourself a swathe through the tangled vines, careful to avoid any contact with your skin. When you have cleared yourself a way to the other side, and passed beyond the wall of poison ivy, you run your sword blade across the earthen ground several times to try to rid it of any residual toxin. You then step up to the door in the western wall and pull it open. Turn to 15.
The water is desperately cold, and you have to struggle to keep your light (and any torch which may have been in your backpack) above the water line. Kicking forcefully with your legs, you decide which way to swim.
Since you are in the southeast corner of this underground lake, you may swim north (turn to 235), west (turn to 23) or northwest (turn to 155).
The CAVE GIANTS burst into the room, the door splintering inwards in a blast of wood and hinge. You hustle forward to catch them in the doorway so they can only face you individually. (If you have injured or killed one or more while fighting them in the other room, you may take those injuries/losses into account here. The following stats are 3 uninjured CAVE GIANTS). You must fight them one at a time.
First CAVE GIANT SKILL 9 STAMINA 12
Second CAVE GIANT SKILL 10 STAMINA 11
Third CAVE GIANT SKILL 11 STAMINA 9
If you win turn to 227.
You soon arrive at another junction. This time the passage "T"s, with one branch heading east and the other west.
Will you head east down the new passage (turn to 263), or west (turn to 299)?
Alternately, you may head south again to the last branch and either take the western branch there (turn to 354) or continue through the gate, shutting it behind you, to return to the pendulum room and reconsider your options there (turn to 269).
You charge into the room, sword waving, bellowing at the top of your lungs. The Minotaur spins, lets out a battle cry to match yours, and charges to meet you, pick axe raised over its head.
MINOTAUR SKILL 9 STAMINA 11
You may escape after 2 rounds through the eastern passage (remembering to deduct 2 STAMINA points for fleeing) by turning to 184.
If you defeat the Minotaur, turn to 152.
Otherwise, your beaten and holed body are left on the floor of this cavern, where the pickaxe sized holes make the perfect home for a family of mice, until they are evicted by a nearby horde of rats which prefer to devour you. Your adventure ends here...
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 302.
If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 147.
You rap three times on the wood of the trap door, but no one answers. You try again and still get no response. You decide to open it. Turn to 173.
Fortunately the creature has enough physical presence that it can still be damaged by your sword. Lashing out blindly you feel one blow connect solidly, and the creature, hissing loudly, dissolves back into harmless water.
Gasping for breath you pull yourself out of the pool. Your lantern was knocked over by the wave of water caused by the Water Weird, and you may have heard glass shatter. Either way, it is likely to be very wet, and may no longer function.
Do you have a torch? If so turn to 24.If not, turn to 186.
After a short distance the passage you are following turns to the east. You follow this corridor for about two minutes before it arrives at a junction, with the path you have been following continuing to the east and a new corridor opening to the north. Holding your light high you can make out that to the east the corridor arrives at the edge of a deep and dark pit, so you decide to try the northern passage. Turn to 216.
The passage leads west for a few moments before your lamp picks out something dark on the floor ahead. A few more steps makes it clear that you are approaching the edge of a deep, dark pit. The pit fills the passage completely, so that there is no way around, but you can see that on the other side, perhaps eleven feet away, the passage continues into darkness.
Do you have any rope? If so, and you would like to use it (Use 50 Foot Use 6 Foot) to lower yourself into the pit, turn to 323.
Otherwise, you may take a running start and try to leap over the pit by turning to 120.
Or you may head back to the junction behind you, trying the eastern passage (turn to 263), or heading south to the previous junction, there to take the western branch (turn to 354) or all the way south, through the iron gate, closing it behind you, to return to the pendulum room and reconsider your options there (turn to 269).
Editors note: Added text to original text for Rope Selection.
Your skills at music are even less than you had expected - your music has no rhythm, is almost cacophonic in fact! The GIANT COBRA lunges, irritated toward you, and you dance aside. As it rears back for a second attack, you realize you will have to fight it. Turn to 121.
The spider clambers toward you and attacks from the north!
Because of your confined position you must subtract 2 from your SKILL score for this combat only. You cannot escape, but must fight the spider to the death.
GIANT SPIDER SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
If the spider manages to hit you even a single time during this combat, turn to 243.
If you kill the spider without it landing a single blow on you, turn to 72.
You stand before the pendulum, trying to time your run perfectly. You crouch into a position that will give your first steps maximum spring. As the pendulum swings past you, you make your move, charging forward with all of your strength. You manage to make it past the blade, though you can hear it whistling near behind you. Whispering praises to yourself you step up to the door on the northern wall, grasp its handle and tug. Turn to 6.
You struggle forcefully, but are unable to free your foot from the web. You are stuck fast on a particularly thick strand of web. Drawing your sword you try to cut your way free from the web, but after a single unsuccessful chop your sword has become stuck to the web as well! You fight to free it, but to no avail. After hours of fighting you have become so tired and cramped that you are forced to rest upon the web, whereupon both hands and legs become fully ensnared. You know that there will be no escape from this web, and that you will spend your last few days of life dying painfully from the ravages of thirst as you struggle from your position atop the web. Your adventure ends here...
The You smiles happily at you and tells you, "Congratulations. You have entered your own room. This place is all about you." The You laughs. "Relax. You simply have to pass a simple test, and you get to choose it! Would you like a mental test, or a physical test?"
Will you take the mental test (turn to 334), or the physical test (turn to 156)?
Alternately you may draw your sword to attack the You (turn to 206), or you may attempt to escape back through the mirror (turn to 437).
You miss your grip while reaching for the second rope and plunge toward the slime below. As soon as your foot passes below its surface, you feel a great pain. The slime is highly acidic, and even now its disgusting liquids are corroding your leg! Deduct 2 STAMINA points. You grasp, panicked, at the second rope to try to haul yourself out again.
Test your Luck. If you are lucky, turn to 440. If you are unlucky, turn to 367.
The door swings open easily, letting onto a small room with smooth, white, plaster walls. At the centre of the room is a lone table. It looks odd and lonely, the only piece of furniture in the room, with no chairs around it.
On the table is an equally lonely looking vial with a broad base. The vial is corked and appears filled with a bright, green liquid.
Shall you uncork the bottle and drink its contents? If so, turn to 324.
Or you may close the door and continue north down the passage. Turn to 298.
You try to fit the tip of your sword beneath the key, but in your panic are having difficulty. You can't seem to actually fit the sword's point into the thin groove on the wall where the key rests. Realizing that you have wasted too much time here you turn to leap from the niche but to your horror see, in your last moment of life, that you are simply too late. The blade swings up into the alcove, cleaving you into two, almost symmetrical pieces. Your left half opens its mouth in a silent scream as your right half tumbles out of the alcove, onto the floor where the blade bisects it neatly again on its return swing. Your adventure ends here...
A short way down the corridor you arrive at a door on the western wall. The door stands slightly ajar and peering around its corner you find yourself looking into a small, gray walled room with an earthen floor. There appear to be no exits from the room except the doorway you stand within, and you see no furniture, no creatures... nothing in the room of note.
Will you enter it? If so, turn to 161.
If you would rather pass it by and continue to the south, turn to 453.
You are halfway to the top when you miss your grip and plummet back to the bottom. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
Would you like to try again? If so, turn to 389.
Otherwise, you may still climb back up your rope, retrieve it and then head back to the junction behind you, trying the eastern passage (turn to 263), or heading south to the previous junction, there to take the western branch (turn to 354) or all the way south, through the iron gate, closing it behind you, to return to the pendulum room and reconsider your options there (turn to 269).
Alternatively, you may climb back up the rope, retrieve it, and then try for a running leap across the pit (turn to 120).
Soon afterwards the passage arrives at another junction where the corridor continues west but a new path also opens to the south. Looking west you can see that the passage there soon turns north, and rather than break your general southward trend, you decide to take the southern passage, where you can see a dull, cherry glow emanating ahead. Turn to 139.
Slowly, you place the necklace around your neck. The light in sockets of the central skull flashes wildly as it makes contact with your skin. You feel intense vertigo and nausea and slump to the floor, supporting yourself on one hand.
Looking down at that hand you are horrified to see your skin sprouting short, gray hair. You feel the transformation in your face, too, and even in your mind as your thoughts turn to acts of violence and evil.
You are doomed to spend the rest of your days as a WERERAT in Allibor's Tomb. Your adventure ends here...
A little further down the passage you are halted by a bizarre sight ahead. The floor of the corridor before you, which appears to be made of some compacted earth, is depressed in the form of a gigantic footprint, easily ten feet across. Eyeing it carefully you can see that there would be room to edge around the footprint without entering it, but you can also see a small, leather pouch sitting perfectly upright in the centre of the footprint, upon an upraised area of earth.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 56. If you are Unlucky, turn to 170.
The man waves his hand and a brass key with the number "2" inscribed on its face magically appears in mid-air before him, dropping to the floor with a soft tinkle. The man then motions for you to retrieve the key, which you do, eagerly, scooping it up and ramming it into the lock. The key fits and you turn it to the side. A muted click comes from within the box and you throw open its lid. Much to your surprise, you find the box empty!
You lift your head to ask the man for another chance, but he has disappeared. You did not even hear him leave. Sadly, you place the remaining two boxes into your backpack and then make your way to the door in the southern wall. Turn to 85.
After a moments walk you come to a junction. The passage you have been following continues west, and a new corridor turns north. To the west you can see that the path soon turns southward, and since this would take you back toward the entrance, you decide to try the northern passage. Turn to 216.
The second box opens as easily as the first to reveal a small, pink key resting on the box's wooden bottom. You pick this key up as well and add it to your backpack (note it on your Adventure Sheet), before returning to your march to the south. Turn to 13.
A short ways onward the passage turns west, but soon after turns to the south again. Up ahead you can see that the passage finally comes to a T-junction. Reaching the junction you peer first in one direction, then the other. To the west the passage goes straight for perhaps thirty feet, but as it nears the limits of your light it looks as if the passage turns south again. To the east the passage just disappears into darkness.
Will you head west (turn to 424) or east (turn to 248)?
After a few swipes of your blade the GATOR MAN drops dead and bloody to the floor. It has no possessions, so you step warily over its body and approach the intersection.
The passage hear splits to the east and west, and on the southern wall, directly ahead, stands a closed door. Looking to the east you can see that the passage there branches about thirty feet down, providing the option of heading south or continuing east. Looking west you can see that the passage there, likewise, arrives at a junction, providing access to the south or west about thirty feet down. Putting your ear against the door you can hear nothing.
Will you head east (turn to 231), west (turn to 363) or open the door (turn to 125)?
The tiny figures continue to dance, swirling about in their majestic ballet, but suddenly, the scene begins to change. The figures melt away to darkness, being replaced by a new image, coalescing out of nothingness. Something white, rounded... You realize what it is before the image has fully formed. It is Allibor's skull, a dull glow buried deep within each eye socket. The skull's jaw drops and a mocking laughter, muted from within the crystal globe, filters out to your ears. You wrench your gaze away and the laughter stops. When you glance back at the globe you see that it has gone blank. Just a sphere of glass. The image has disturbed you greatly, however. Lose 2 LUCK points.
If you have not done so already, you may now press the green button by turning to 115.
Or, you can leave this room the way you came in, to return to the entry chamber, to choose a new door - turn to 73.
You spin and sprint for the edge of the footprint, but there is just too little time! The foot is dropping quickly and it strikes you before you have even approached the edge, stomping you solidly into the ground and crushing every bone in your body. Your adventure ends here...
With the tip of your sword you draw the first length of rope toward you. You then sheath your blade, lift your body from solid ground and swing out over the slime. You are drawing close to the second rope and reach out for it.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 440.
If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 74.
Beyond the central door you find a very short passage. The passage is carved from the solid stone of the mountain, and its walls are quite cold to the touch. The passage ends almost directly ahead in a thick, black curtain. Painted across the front of the curtain is the image of a skull and crossbones. The curtain fills the entire end of the corridor; you cannot see beyond.
Do you wish to move the curtain to see what lay beyond it? If so, turn to 407.
Or do you stifle your curiosity, return to the entry, shutting the central door behind you, and choose an alternate path? Turn to 73.
The corridor continues south for only a short distance before swinging east, and upon rounding this corridor you are confronted almost immediately with a junction. The corridor continues straight to the east and a new branch diverts to the south. The eastern corridor continues straight into darkness, but there is a dull, reddish glow emanating far down the southern corridor.
Will you head east (turn to 277) or south (turn to 139)?
Taking your rope from your backpack, you tie it to a protruding rock, test it, and slowly begin lowering yourself into the pit.
The floor is only about seventeen or eighteen feet below you and you reach the earthen bottom without incident. Scanning the bottom of the pit you see only one thing, discarded in the corner, probably dropped by some other adventurer years before. It is a leather bag with a drawstring mouth. You bend over and retrieve this. Finding it empty, you decide to place it in your backpack anyway. Record it on your Adventure Sheet.
You now have to make a decision. Your rope hangs on the eastern face of this pit, and you have tied it securely enough that you will not be able to retrieve it without climbing back up for it. If you wish to continue westward you will have to abandon the rope, and try to climb the uneven western wall of the pit (which doesn't look too difficult - there appear to be plenty of natural hand holds).
Will you leave your rope behind and try to climb the western pit face? If so, turn to 389.
Or you may climb back up your rope, retrieve it and then head back to the junction behind you, trying the eastern passage (turn to 263), or heading south to the previous junction, there to take the western branch (turn to 354) or all the way south, through the iron gate, closing it behind you, to return to the pendulum room and reconsider your options there (turn to 269).
Alternatively, you may climb back up the rope, retrieve it, and then try for a running leap across the pit (turn to 120).
Stepping up to the table you retrieve the bottle and pop its cork. You bring the open bottle to your nose and inhale. It doesn't smell particularly bad. Almost fruity. Closing your eyes, you bring the bottle up to your lips and tip its contents into your mouth.
The flavour of the liquid is actually quite pleasant, and despite sitting in this room for an unknown period, the liquid seems cool and refreshing. You down the entire contents of the bottle.
You have replaced the bottle on the table and are just turning to leave when the first cramp hits. It doubles you up with pain until you are actually collapsed on the floor, spitting out frothy, green saliva. You have ingested a terrible poison!
Roll 2 dice and deduct this many STAMINA points. If you are still alive, you haul yourself to your feet when the cramping has begun to subside and shuffle back out into the hallway. You turn to the north and continue down the passage. Turn to 298.
The door bears a sign, written on white parchment, which you failed to notice when you first entered the room. It reads, "EXTREME DANGER! DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR!" Placing your ear against the door you hear nothing beyond.
Will you ignore the warning and open the door anyway? If so, turn to 117.
If you have not done so already you may instead enter the pool - turn to 87.
Or you may walk back around the pool and leave the room, returning to the junction, there to take the western branch of the junction (turn to 299), or south, back to the previous junction, there to turn west (turn to 354), or all the way south, through the iron gate, shutting it behind you, back to the pendulum room to reconsider your options (turn to 269).
The Hobgoblins are no match for your sword. Backing slowly down the tunnel as you do so, you take them on, one at a time, using your longer sword arm thrust your sword at them if either gets too close. When both are dead you quickly rifle through their possessions, turning up 3 gold pieces and a small black key.
Note these on your Adventure Sheet. On a hunch you hustle back to the trap door and find that the key fits the lock perfectly. You turn the key and then shove forcefully at the trap door. It still feels blocked by something heavy, but without the lock you are able to muscle it up anyway. You hear the heavy object that was resting atop the trap door topple as you do so.
You wait a moment to see if your actions have attracted any attention, and when nothing occurs, decide to poke your head up into this new area to have a look around.
The first thing you notice is the wooden chest lying on its side. This is what must have been resting atop the trap door.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north, west and south are natural cave walls. In the northern wall is a wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
You haul yourself up through the trap door.
The water looks much too cold to swim in if you don't have to, so you decide against it.
Will you now upright the chest and open it? If so, turn to 254.
Or would you prefer to open the door in the north wall? Turn to 158.
Folding your arms over your chest, closing your eyes and inhaling a deep breath, you charge the wall of poison ivy. The vines are stronger than you expected and you are forced to struggle against them, even tearing with your hands at some points to break through. On the other side, you slump to the ground to rest for a few minutes before continuing onward. It doesn't take long for the tell-tale itching to begin and the welts to begin rising across your face, neck, hands and arms. Soon your body is aflame with irritation. Deduct 2 SKILL points. Cursing your own foolishness you get to your feet and pull the door in the western wall open. Turn to 15.
Fortunately your backpack is only looped easily around the collar of an old suit of platemail. You unhook this and let the current sweep you toward the hole in the wall. Turn to 265.
You walk cautiously into the room, eyes darting from side to side, wary of any traps. At last you stand before the shield and, with trembling hands, reach out and lift it from its latch on the wall. The shield is light, and very strong. As long as you have it you may add 1 when computing your Attack Strength in combat.
As soon as the shield's weight leaves its latch, however, a low rumbling begins to sound from all around you. The room shakes, once, violently, and the shield drops out of your hands.
Immediately, the strange, pebbly surface of the ceiling begins to crack, and the jagged stones that comprise it begin to fall into the room. One of these stones grazes your cheek, drawing blood. Deduct 1 STAMINA point.
Will you abandon the shield, sprinting for the safety of the hallway? If so, turn to 58.
Or will you take the time to grab up the shield, and try to sprint for the hallway, with the shield held over your head for protection from the falling stones? If so, turn to 199.
Or would you prefer to snatch up the shield and crouch where you are with it held over your head for protection? If so, turn to 490.
You have only walked along this corridor a brief time when you notice that the walls of the tunnel are showing less signs of intentional construction. Here and there you are still spotting supporting timbers, but the walls and floor are giving way to earth and natural stone.
Up ahead you see something dangling from the ceiling and you crouch for a moment to try to decipher what it is. After a moment's analysis you realize that you are looking at dozens of small bats, their tiny claws latched with the rough stone ceiling. They appear to be sleeping, hanging upside down.
Will you:
Try to tiptoe quietly beneath them to continue north along the corridor? Turn to 463.
Or, draw your sword and attack them? Turn to 12.
You decide to continue walking north. You stride cautiously, but you still fail to see the dusty net that lay on the ground until you are already on top of it. With a sudden whoosh and a spray of dust and sand, the net scoops you up into the air. You hang, trussed, above the dark corridor, struggling feebly.
Do you have a knife? If so turn to 267. If not, turn to 143.
After thirty feet, the passage turns to the east. Turn to 360.
You bend forward at the waist and peer into the crystal globe. Immediately the colours begin to change, coalescing into a shape that is recognizable. Within the globe you see many tiny dancers, swooping and twirling in a beautiful ballet. Their movements are perfect and graceful, quite enchanting to watch. Add 1 LUCK point.
Do you wish to continue gazing into the crystal ball? Turn to 318.
If not, since no other exits lead from this room, you must return to the main entry chamber and choose a different path. Turn to 73.
Your other self leads you to one wall of the round room and pushes on one of the bricks. A stone door swings open onto another small, room, also comprised of red brick, though this room is square.
The You guides you in and leads you to a wooden table at the centre of the room. He gestures to one of the two chairs, and seats himself in the opposite one. You sit.
On the table is a deck of cards. The You shuffles the cards, then replaces them, and draws the top card from the deck. He looks at it and smiles, then instructs you to draw a card. You reach forward and draw the eight of hearts.
"Lay it on the table," the You instructs, so you do. "Now," he continues. "Is the card I have drawn higher than your card, lower than your card, or equal to yours?"
If your answer is higher, turn to 195.
If your answer is equal, turn to 180.
If your answer is lower, turn to 188.
The boat man accepts the single gold piece. Deduct it from your Adventure Sheet. Then the boat man gestures for you to enter the boat, which you do, keeping a cautious eye on him, and a wary hand near to your sword. You sit in the bow of the boat, facing him.
The boat man launches the boat effortlessly, and using his pole, pushes you silently through the water to the west.
Cave wall flows by to the south of you. You pass beneath drooping stalactites, and the mists part to allow your skiff royal passage. The air is heavy with the scent of minerals and damp.
The water the boat is gliding over appears deep, black and cold.
As you watch the water you become aware that you have begun to see the outline of boulders passing beneath the boat. You are approaching land. You turn to face forward and can see that the boat is indeed nearing another sandy beach surrounded on all sides by cave walls. Even from a distance you can make out the strange anomaly of a wooden chest resting on the beach. And on the northern cave wall you can see a closed, wooden door.
The boat reaches the shore and the boat man motions for you to exit, which you do hastily. Once your feet are on the beach, the boat man immediately launches his boat again. You watch as he disappears back into the mists, as silently as he came.
Once he has disappeared you turn and try to decide what to do next. Shall you open the wooden chest? If so, turn to 254.
If you would rather leave it and head for the door, turn to 158.
Gripping the boat's wooden edge you haul yourself up and inside, relieved to be out of the frigid water. You are about to address the boat man when he reaches a hand up toward his cowl. You are alarmed to see that his hand is completely skeletal. As he withdraws the cowl you can see that is head is that of a skeleton too, a hollow eyed skull! The boat man's jaw drops open in some silent command, and instantly his pole transforms into a wicked looking scythe.
The boat man advances menacingly toward you, stepping over the low wooden seats in the boat. You must fight him.
BOAT MAN SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 181.
If you lose, turn to 42.
Moving very carefully you manage to coerce the spider off of your hand and onto the brick wall. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief you then turn and continue southward. Turn to 322.
Pulling the book from your backpack, you page through it until you find a large, black and white, ink diagram of the plant and a brief synopsis about it. For the most part it tells you nothing you did not already know, but toward the bottom you do note a cautionary paragraph that warns against burning poison ivy because of the noxious, potentially fatal fumes the plant will give off.
Putting the book away you reconsider your options.
If you have a torch you may ignore the book's warning and try to burn away the poison ivy, leaving yourself a method of passing to the door, by turning to 7.
If you wish, you may try to hack through it with your sword by turning to 290.
Or you may simply charge through the tangle of ivy vines to the other side by turning to 327.
After thirty feet, the passage swings to the north and you follow it.
There, in the centre of the corridor before you, you can see a gigantic whicker basket. The whicker that comprises its edges is too tightly woven for your light to pierce, but you can see that there is a lid to the basket up near the ceiling of the corridor.
The basket is very heavy, and no amount of shoving from you will knock it over. There seems to be a fair amount of weight in its bottom half.
If you have fifty feet of rope, you may try to make a lasso to snag the lid and pull it off. To do this, turn to 236.
Or, you could try hacking a hole in the whicker with your sword. To do this, turn to 409.
If you have a torch, you could use its flame to light the basket on fire. To do this, turn to 447.
Or you could try edging past the basket to continue north by turning to 5.
You are now in the northeastern corner of the web. The place where you saw the helmet lies some six feet to the south. The doorway is about six feet south and twelve feet west.
This area of the web is not particularly sticky.
Will you step west (turn to 383) or south (turn to 240)?
With lightning reflexes, you swing the flat of your blade into contact with the flute, knocking it away from the pit. It clatters on the ground somewhere to your left and you walk over to retrieve the bamboo flute, placing it within your backpack. Note it on your Adventure Sheet. Satisfied with your prize, you leave the room to continue on your quest. Turn to 218.
The tentacle submerges momentarily and you are hoping that your vicious swordplay has scared it off, when you suddenly feel its muscled touch on your foot, beneath the water. Letting out a yelp you try to kick it away, but the tentacle is already wrapping itself around your ankle. You stab downward with your sword, feel contact, and see an inky blood clouding the water around you. But the tentacle does not retract.
With a horrible strength, the tentacle drags you under in one quick jerk. Because of the inky plume of blood in the water, you are unable to get a good look at what has grabbed you. All you know is that it is immensely powerful, and whatever it is, it is dragging you ever deeper.
You have drowned long before the creature can devour you within its aquatic lair. Your adventure ends here...
You bend low, grip the rope in both hands, and let the rest of your body hang down into the pit. You begin the process of crossing the pit hand over hand, and the going is fairly easy. As you are nearing the centre of the pit, however, the GIANT PYTHON suddenly rears up, coiling its powerful body about one of your dangling legs. You fight to maintain your grip, but the snake is too powerful, yanking you from the rope to join it below. You hit the bottom of the pit with a jarring impact which momentarily shakes the snake's grip on you. You roll to one side and get to your feet, drawing your sword in one fluid motion.
You must fight the GIANT PYTHON.
GIANT PYTHON SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If you win, turn to 209.
The misty figure is actually a WRAITH, an undead spirit condemned to walk the earth. Although the WRAITH is not an extremely adept fighter, its negative material energies conflict so radically with your positive material energies that any blow it lands on you will cost you 3 points of STAMINA instead of 2 (and a successful Luck test will only reduce this to 2 points of damage instead of 1). Also, because of the WRAITH'S incorporeal form, any blow you land on it will do only 1 point of damage instead of 2 (and a successful Luck test here will raise the damage to 2 instead of 4), unless you roll at least 3 higher than what was required for you to win the combat round. (i.e. If you have SKILL 10 and the WRAITH SKILL 8, and the WRAITH rolls a 6 on its Attack Dice, giving it a total Attack Strength of 14, although you still only need to roll a 5 to win the combat round (because this would give you an Attack Strength of 15), you would have to roll an 8 or higher to do the full 2 points of damage. If you rolled a 5, 6 or 7 you would only do 1 point of damage). If you roll high enough to do the normal 2 points of damage, and then make a successful Luck test to increase the damage, you do the full 4 points of damage.
WRAITH SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
If you beat the WRAITH, turn to 457.
Something bursts from the hole above you and you hear and feel the beating of large wings.
Unbeknownst to you, you are facing a WYVERN - a dragon-like creature which is a little smaller than most dragons, and lacks the ability to breathe fire - in the darkness. It is upon you and you must fight it. Subtract 2 from your SKILL score for the duration of this fight only, because you are in total darkness.
WYVERN SKILL 10 STAMINA 14
If you win, turn to 167.
You are nearing the top when the pile of rubbish shifts suddenly. Losing your purchase, you tumble backwards off of the mound, scraping and cutting yourself all the way down. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
Standing angrily you realize that you are still on the wrong side of the mound and will have to climb it again. Turn to 481.
As your sword comes into contact with the hot mound of coals, flames shoot up around the blade, turning the hilt instantly into a fierce, red metal as well! You gasp and release the blade, but not before it can burn your sword hand. Deduct 1 SKILL point and 3 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you wait for your sword to cool down before retrieving it and sheathing it. Cradling your wounded hand you then continue to the south. Turn to 123.
You step out onto one of the moving, wooden steps of the escalator, gripping a strange, rubbery handrail to one side as you do so. The step you are on descends smoothly to another platform below, where you step off, turning to watch the wooden step disappear beneath the platform, riding an unseen track.
Ahead of you, you are alarmed to see grass! A long, steeply sloping hill, leading downward, covered in the soft green of healthy grass disappears into the shadows of the cavern. Beside you, a large gaping hole in the floor of the platform provides another egress, though the hill is magically shrouded in darkness. You cannot see what lay beyond.
Do you wish to cautiously lower yourself down the steep hill, from a seated position? If so, turn to 379.
Or would you rather grip the edge of the platform tightly and lower your body through the hole to see if you can touch anything beyond with your toes? If so, turn to 358.
You put the bottle to your lips and gulp down the contents. Instantly you feel more refreshed. In fact, you feel great! It was a Potion of Skill you just drank! Your may restore your SKILL score to its Initial value.
Will you now:
Use the pink key in the pink edged key-hole (if you have not done so already, and if you have a pink key)? If so, turn to 226.
Or leave the brick wall and its keyholes to head west (turn to 363) or east (turn to 231)?
The room you have entered is quite large. The floor is tiled with crumbling flagstones and the tall gray walls are made of large, cubic blocks. The western wall, through which you entered, is cracked, and shattered at its base. A large, dark stain, as if the wall had been blasted by an incredible, concentrated heat, stands out around the hole there.
Leaving about a ten foot margin of open floor on the outside, twin columns of massive stone pillars create a corridor down the centre of the room from north to south, painting a majestic path to the only door out of the room, in the southern wall. There are five pillars on each side of the room, totalling ten.
As you stand, gawking, a small man dressed in green clothing with an odd, pointed hat, suddenly leaps from behind one of the pillars. He is grinning widely and he holds out his empty hands in a gesture of peace. "Please, do not try to hurt me," he calls out. "I am only here to help!" He is walking calmly towards you, his hands still outstretched.
If you would like to draw your sword and attack the little man anyway, turn to 31.
If you would prefer to hear him out, turn to 80.
Alternately, you can ignore the man and make your way to the door in the southern wall by turning to 85.
The passage soon arrives at another junction where the path splits west and continues south. Looking west you can see nothing. Looking south, it appears that the passage arrives at a dead end a short distance in.
If you would like to head down the western corridor, turn to 46.
If you would rather investigate the seeming dead end to the south, turn to 405.
You quickly snuff your light and fold yourself into a tiny ball near the rubbish pile. With your light out you realize that you can still see, vaguely, and the reason why soon becomes apparent. There is light emanating from around the corner of the junction where you were hearing the footsteps.
After a moment the source of the footsteps becomes apparent as a figure steps into the light. It is a human figure, dressed in worn and torn clothing, carrying a torch in one hand and a sword in the other.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 241. If you are Unlucky, turn to 370.
Drawing your sword and leaning over the pit on your tiptoes, you reach out and sever the thread which holds the flute. Immediately the flute begins its plummet into the pit and you swipe at it with the flat of your blade, trying to knock it aside.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 341. If you are Unlucky, turn to 162.
The passage continues west for only a short distance before turning south and culminating in an abrupt dead end. On the wall at the end of the dead end, however, hangs a note which reads, "The third box holds the key." You're not sure what this means, but the information may come in useful. (If this is your first time here, add 1 LUCK point). Happily, you trot back to the junction to decide whether to now follow the northern passage (turn to 293), or head south, back through the iron gate, closing it behind you, all the way to the pendulum room to reconsider your options (turn to 269).
You step up to the book and turn its heavy cover back. Most of the pages, written upon in some dark ink, have been smudged and stained by moisture over the years to the point where they are no longer legible. Toward the back of the book, however you encounter a single page where you can still make out the writing.
It says:
"Should you reach the pool of blood,
throw the ruby in.
The gem will leave, but golden key,
your race shall help you win."
Record the Codeword "Moravia".
Memorizing the poem, you close the book and continue on your quest. Turn to 339.
Standing sullenly, you are about to retrace your steps when it occurs to you how odd it is to have this tunnel abruptly end. You decide that it may house some sort of secret door and immediately commence scanning the wall, holding your light close to it. After approximately ten minutes you are becoming certain that this is, indeed, a secret door. You even believe you can make out the faint cracks in the wall where the door will pivot. But how to open it? You push and pull and twist at every protuberance you can see... and at last your efforts are rewarded. Low to the ground you find a small, jutting rock that, when depressed, causes the entire wall to swivel open. Unfortunately, it has taken you more than an hour to find this. Lose 1 LUCK point.
You step up to the now open section and peer through it.
You seem to be looking at water of some sort, with an object on the ground in front of it. You shuffle forward, into the secret door's archway to get a better look.
The object appears to be a wooden chest of fair size. Its lid is closed and latched, but from here it does not appear to be locked.
Turning your gaze from the chest, you survey the rest of the area. The walls to the north and south are natural cave walls, as is the wall in which you found the secret passage. In the northern wall stands a closed, wooden door.
The floor of this area is sandy beach and to the east you can see that the ground slopes into the edge of a great, subterranean lake. Stalactites drip from the cavern ceiling, almost even with the lake, and a gentle mist is obscuring all in the distance.
The water looks much too cold to swim in if you don't have to, so you decide against it.
Will you approach the chest and open it? If so, turn to 254.
Or would you prefer to open the door in the north wall? Turn to 158.
You edge your way along the outer left edge of the pillars, eyes shifting nervously, on the lookout for danger. Up ahead, behind the third and final pillar, you notice a small, cloth pouch lying discarded on the floor.
Would you like to pick up the pouch and look inside it? If so, turn to 362.
If you would rather let it lay there and continue south on your way, turn to 316.
Gripping tightly at the platform's edge, you lower your legs through the hole. You are bent at the waist, supporting yourself on your abdomen, but your feet contact nothing. You lower yourself further, nervous, allowing your entire body to dangle through the hole. When you are hanging by just your hands, you still have felt nothing with your feet, and whatever darkness shrouds the surface of the hole does so within as well, because you can see nothing.
Solid ground may be just out of reach, or it may be tens of feet below yet.
Do you wish to let go of the platform and drop into the darkness, hoping the ground is near? If so, turn to 47.
If you would rather haul yourself back up and try edging down the grassy hill instead, turn to 379.
About sixty feet further down the corridor, the hall finally ends in a T-junction. Both corridors disappear into darkness, neither offering any clues as to where they lead.
Will you head down the western corridor? If so, turn to 194.
If you would rather head east, turn to 429.
The passage comes abruptly to a short flight of stone steps leading downward. At their base the floor disappears into a dark pit. The passage continues on the other side of the pit.
Hanging over the pit, tied to a metal eyering in the ceiling, is a length of chain which depends almost level with the bottom step.
The pit is probably a little too far to jump across, though with the help of the chain you could probably swing it.
Will you:
Descend the stairs to look down into the pit? Turn to 83.
Or leap from the top of the stairs onto the chain to try to swing across the pit? Turn to 410.
Or abandon the pit altogether and return to the junction to try a different path? Turn to 458.
The nasty creatures fill the shaft too thickly. As you enter their web they drop onto your neck, scuttle up inside your armour and attack your legs. You are bitten many times, and as your muscles seize up and the intense pain of the poisonous black widow bites sets in, you know that your adventure ends here...
Inside the pouch you find 3 gold pieces which you put in your backpack (note these on your Adventure Sheet). In addition there is a small note written on a tattered piece of paper, which you read. It seems to be some sort of poem:
"When the passage splits in two,
it is left to you to choose;
to go east or to go west?
Take the path not not to the left."
You stare at the paper for a moment, memorizing the poem, then fold it up and place it in your backpack. You then continue south, passing the pillars entirely. Turn to 316.
Thirty feet along you come to the junction that you saw. Looking to the south you see that the passage there disappears into darkness, though there might be something like a sign or a door a little ways down on the eastern wall. Looking west it appears that the passage in that direction swings south a little ways up, and it looks like there might be something crouched in the corner where those two corridors meet.
Will you take the southern branch (turn to 29), or continue west (turn to 428)?
You walk cautiously toward the skull, keeping your wary eyes moving about the room, jumping from point to point. You see nothing out of the ordinary however, no tripwires or traps. At last you stand before the plinth.
Bending at the waist you examine the bones on the floor closely. They are a shiny, bleached white, but other than that appear unremarkable. You believe they comprise only a single, human skeleton.
The skull still has tightly dried bits of decayed flesh hanging from it. Holding your light closer, however, you can see a soft reflection through a gape in the skull's grin. There appears to be a small, red gemstone hidden beneath the skull. A garnet, it looks like.
Shall you lift the skull to retrieve the garnet? If so, turn to 371.
Otherwise, walk back into the hall and head north - turn to 103.
When the cobra finally lies dead at your feet you are very relieved, realizing that a single bite from it probably would have killed you.
You now turn your attention back to the basket. With the serpent's body removed, the basket is much lighter, and no longer so bottom heavy. With a few firm shoves you are able to knock it over, its lid rolling to one side as the basket crashes to the corridor floor. (If you lost your rope lassoing its lid, you can now retrieve it - add it again to your Adventure Sheet).
You step up to the basket's now open top and shine your light inside. There is something at the far end of the basket, the area that was the bottom. It appears to be a flask of some sort. You step closer and pick it up. The bottle is labelled "Holy Water" and appears to contain some clear liquid. You place it in your backpack, then leave the basket to continue on your way. Turn to 5.
You maneuver the levers so that only the left lever is in the up position. You wait a moment to see whether you have succeeded, and if not, what punishment shall be bestowed upon you. A strange humming sound begins from the portcullis and you step back, hand going instinctively to your sword hilt. There is no way for you to defend yourself, however, as the bars of the gate suddenly flash bright blue and a bolt of lightning crackles out to strike you in the chest. The force of the blast knocks you backward. Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive you get to your feet and approach the gate again.
You may now try raising both levers up simultaneously by turning to 132.
Or you may move the left lever down and the right lever up by turning to 27.
Alternately, you may return to the goblin domain to ask their advice by turning to 450.
You are unable to grasp the rope in time and you sink beneath the layers of foul slime. Pain is everywhere as the acid engulfs you, and though you struggle to reach dry land, it is too late. Your body and all your possessions are soon nothing more than a meaningless green slime too, deep in the halls of Allibor's Tomb. Your adventure ends here...
You walk north for a few minutes before the corridor swings to the east. You follow it. Several steps into this new passage you can see by your light that the corridor ends in a natural, stone wall up ahead. You have come to a dead end. You walk to the end of the corridor and stare at the wall, thinking about how far you will have to go back to find a new route. You slump to the ground, against the wall, in frustration.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 166.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 356.
Balancing carefully, you manage to make it all the way to the other side safely. Casting a single glance back at the trapped serpent, you continue east down the passageway. Turn to 237.
The man walks right up to the rubbish pile and begins the difficult process of climbing over it.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 473. If you are Unlucky, turn to 420.
With a trembling hand you lift the skull from the plinth and snatch up the small garnet. Record this on your Adventure Sheet. As soon as the skull's weight leaves the plinth however, a loud grinding sound comes to your ears. You spin in time to see the door scraping shut, gritting across the stone floor. Simultaneously your gaze is drawn upward by a splashing sound and you can see that a green liquid has begun pouring through the slits in the walls. It is pooling on the floor and seeping quickly toward you. You have only a moment to make a decision.
Will you charge the door and try to force it open? If so, turn to 249.
If you would rather climb up on the plinth and hope the liquid doesn't climb to that level, turn to 271.
You step onto the black pattern without incident, but as you begin following it out, flames burst from the pattern and engulf you! You immediately step back to your position on the white pattern and the flames die down again, but not before you are badly singed. Deduct 4 STAMINA points. If you are still alive, you are still faced with deciding how to escape this magical flame trap.
Will you try following the white spiral out? If so, turn to 466.
If you would rather walk a direct path across the pattern toward the door, turn to 261.
Around the corner of the junction steps a man in ragged clothing. He holds a flaming torch in one hand and a sword in the other. He pauses when he catches sight of you.
Will you try to talk to the man? Turn to 451.
Or would you rather charge in to attack the man with your sword? Turn to 84.
You drop the fifteen feet, striking the ground with a jarring impact. Lose 1 STAMINA point. You draw your sword in time to face the Pterodactyl on its first swooping pass.
You must fight this creature.
PTERODACTYL SKILL 5 STAMINA 4
If you win, turn to 75.
Otherwise, in a short while, what the bird leaves of your battered carcass becomes fertilizer for the plant life in this strange room.
This creature is an incredibly powerful being, and not of this world! Do you possess a magic sword?
If so, turn to 264.
If not, you may either pay it the 1 gold piece it has requested (if you have it), by turning to 462, or you must return to the slide on the platform behind you and descend, by turning to 128.
It is a fierce battle, but at last the WYVERN lays dead at your feet. You light up your torch again and are relieved when its golden light fills your surroundings.
You are standing in what appears to have been a junction, though the northern and southern passageways have been cut off by large slabs of smooth stone. Perhaps this is what caused the grating sound you heard.
Essentially you are at a dead end. The eastern wall, however, is cracked and crumbling, and a large hole stands in the middle, blocked by a rounded boulder. You approach this boulder and push as hard as you can, finally rolling it aside and providing yourself with a path onward. Beyond you can make out a large room. You step through the hole in the wall and hold your torch high. Turn to 350.
You pound an iron spike into the ground and tie your rope around this. You test it several times, concerned about the solidity of the earthen floor, but the spike seems quite stable. Satisfied, you turn and lower yourself into the pit.
Your feet touch down on the muddy bottom of the pit and you hold your light high, spotting the flute almost immediately. It seems to be the only thing down here, so you move quickly to retrieve it, placing it in your backpack (note it on your Adventure Sheet).
You then make the climb back to the surface, untying your rope and replacing it in your backpack. Unfortunately, the iron spike is too firmly embedded in the ground to retrieve, despite your most frantic tugging. You will have to abandon it. (Cross one iron spike from your Adventure Sheet).
You exit the room to continue on your way. Turn to 218.
You are about to step past the CAVE TROLL'S now dead body when you notice a slight, bluish glow forming around the blade of its heavy sword.
Do you wish to examine the sword more closely? If so, turn to 18.
If you would rather leave both the sword and the TROLL'S large corpse behind and continue on your quest, turn to 459.
Very carefully, you edge your way down the grassy hill, enjoying the feel of its soft blades beneath your hands, even though you know it must be an illusion, or else magically manufactured; no sunlight shines in this room.
At last you come to the bottom of the steep hill and find yourself on yet another platform.
To your left, a long, wooden pole which fastens to the platform by means of a hoop formation, leads down into shadows. To your right stands a wooden ladder, disappearing downward over the edge of the platform.
Holding your light over the edge of the platform, it looks like the sandy floor of the cavern is now only some twenty feet below you. You've almost made it to the bottom!
Will you shimmy down the wooden pole (turn to 397), or descend the wooden ladder (turn to 485)?
You lean cautiously out and wrap your arms around the trunk of what seems to be a very tall palm tree. Gripping it tightly, you swing your legs out to wrap around the tree as well. Then you carefully begin the process of lowering yourself to the ground.
Roll 2 dice. If the number is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 483.
If the number is greater than your SKILL, turn to 220.
Drawing your sword and gripping it tightly, you push the door open.
The room beyond is fairly large, approximately fifty feet on a side. Its walls are made of crumbling orange brick. The edges of the room are littered with heaps of yellowed straw.
In the centre of the room, seated around a low fire, are three large humans dressed in dirty furs. You recognize them as CAVE GIANTS, very powerful and usually violent fellows. As the door finishes its slow swing open, the CAVE GIANTS leap to their feet, brandishing heavy, wooden clubs over their heads. They begin a slow advance toward you.
Will you stand your ground and fight the CAVE GIANTS? If so, turn to 2.
Or if you feel that running is the safer option and want to beat a retreat back to the junction to try the western branch, turn to 503.
You are too slow and the potion's glass vial shatters on the floor of the room, its unknown contents splashing the walls and floor, disappearing into cracks between bricks.
Cursing, you reconsider your options. If you have the necessary funds, and you haven't done so already, you could try buying one of the other items.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the knife, turn to 193.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the rope, turn to 176.
If you have 1 gold piece and wish to spend it on the torch, turn to 469.
If you have 5 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the shining sword, turn to 79.
Or, you may leave the room, returning to the junction and head either north down the passage (turn to 331), or back to the main entry to choose a different door (turn to 73).
The place where you saw the helmet is some three feet east and six feet south. The doorway is approximately nine feet west and six feet south.
This area of the web is not very sticky and you are able to stand freely upon it.
Will you now head west (turn to 95), south (turn to 270) or east, into the northeast corner of the web (turn to 340)?
You step inside the box and twin doors slide shut, meeting in the centre behind you. You reach out a finger and depress the "down" button.
Instantly you feel the elevator begin to drop. But this is not the slow, controlled descent you had been hoping for. The elevator is picking up speed, hurtling faster and faster and faster, your stomach flying as you pitch downward, unable to see where you are falling, unable to see as you crash upon the floor several hundred feet below. The elevator is dashed into dozens of pieces, as are you, scattered and shattered by the impact. Your adventure ends here...
Remembering the scene that played out on the viewscreen while you sat in the chair, you realize that this is the pool of red liquid you saw there. In the scene, you approached and dropped a ruby into the red liquid.
Do you have a ruby with a golden key inside? If so, and you would like to throw it into the well, turn to 26.
If not, you may either stir at the blood with your sword (turn to 174), or leave the room through the western door (turn to 90).
Flailing wildly, you try to grasp at the chain, but the oil beneath your feet has you tumbling every which way. You miss your grasp and plummet downwards into the pit.
The pit itself is fairly shallow, entailing only about a seven foot drop. The bottom, however, is lined with jagged metal spikes, all pointing upwards. You catch only the quickest glance of these before your body is impaled upon them, leaving you to twitch and moan for several minutes before the dark of death overtakes you. Your adventure ends here...
You pull the three iron boxes from your backpack and present them to the little man. He smiles weakly, stepping forward to examine them.
"I can unlock any one of these boxes for you," the little man tells you. "But I can only unlock one. Which would you prefer me to open?"
Will you ask him to unlock:
The first box? Turn to 415.
The second box? Turn to 313
The third box? Turn to 122
Alternately, you may attack the little man with your sword by turning to 31, or you can ignore the man, putting the boxes back into your backpack, and stepping past him to the door in the southern wall by turning to 85.
The doors open onto a sandy, subterranean beach at the edge of a small underground lake, only some forty feet across to each side. The walls are still natural, with the water for the lake spilling in through some, narrow, natural sluice in the eastern wall. This sluice would be far to small to enter.
On the opposite side of the leg, picked out only by the glinting of its metal, is another set of bronze, double doors at the head of a narrow strip of beach.
A trail of smooth stepping stones provides access to the other side of the lake. There is also a small row boat beached to your right which you could try to cross in.
If you wish to cross the lake by walking across the stepping stones, turn to 438.
If you would prefer to row the boat across, turn to 259.
You fit your fingers into the rock face and begin hauling yourself upward.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 478.
If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 309.
After about thirty more feet the passage makes a sharp turn to the south. You follow this for a few moments before spying a junction up ahead, where the path diverts to the west and continues south. There is also a heavy, rounded boulder tucked up against the eastern wall of the corridor where the three passages meet.
As you reach this intersection you hear a strange grating sound and stop to discern what it is. In front of you, a large stone slab has dropped to block the passage to the south. Spinning, you find that the passage to the north has likewise been blocked.
You turn to look down the passage to the west. It is dark there, but you can feel a light breeze stirring from that direction. A loud, horrible shriek suddenly sounds down this corridor, causing you to back up a few steps, directly into the boulder. You wait a moment and, seeing nothing, turn to examine the boulder.
The wall it has been tucked against is cracked and crumbling and you can see a dark hole behind the boulder. Casting one more glance toward the darkened western corridor, you decide against exploring in that direction and instead heave the rounded boulder out of the way, clearing a path through the newly revealed hole in the wall. Beyond seems to lie some sort of large room. Ducking your head, you pass through the hole, then stand straight and hold your light aloft to examine your new surroundings. Turn to 350.
It takes only a short time for you to reach the corner and the pedestal you saw. Looking east down the new corridor you can see that it swings to the north about thirty feet onward.
Turning your attention back to the pedestal you can see that it is constructed of a beautiful white, blue-veined marble. Atop the pedestal is a heavy-looking, blue, leather bound book. The book is closed, and you can see that the edges of its papers are gold leafed.
Do you wish to open the book? If so, turn to 355.
If you would rather head east toward the turn in the passage, turn to 339.
You step into the car and try to shove yourself off, but the cart refuses to move. It is then that you see the small, green button labelled "START".
If you wish to press this button, turn to 224.
If you would rather get out of the cart and ride down the escalator instead, turn to 348.
The passageway soon swings from north to east, however, on the northern wall of the passage where the corridor first makes this turn, is a closed, wooden door. Glancing down the passage to the east you can make out nothing except that the walls and floor appear to take on a more man-made tone again, with scattered flagstones and smoother carved walls. Listening at the door you hear nothing.
Will you open the door (turn to 414) or head east down the passage (turn to 496)?
Nudging the door open cautiously you peer into a small chamber devoid of all furniture. The walls are made of crumbling, orange brick, the floor made of cracked stone. The room is only about twenty feet on each side, and there are no other exits except the one you stand in.
On the wall opposite you, about five feet off the ground, is a metal vent, three feet high by two feet wide. Holding your light up to this you can see a metal vent shaft disappearing westward into the gloom.
Would you like to try to remove this vent and try to climb inside to find out where it leads (turn to 159), or would you rather leave this room, close the door behind you, and head back to the junction, there to take the eastern passage (turn to 429)?
You fight with all of your might but are unable to remove the lid. Worse still, your rope remains attached at the top and you may not be able to retrieve it. You shake at it vigorously, hoping to dislodge your own lasso.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 211. If you are Unlucky, turn to 454.
You take one sip of the wine and immediately spit it back out. It is a foul tasting poison! Fortunately you swallowed very little. Lose 2 STAMINA points.
If you have not done so already, you may now, if you wish, try eating some of the food, by turning to 51.
Otherwise you may take a silver platter (record it on your Adventure Sheet) and head eastward down the corridor by turning to 496.
You grab hold of the pole and shimmy downward, relieved when you feel your feet touch on sandy ground. You have reached the bottom! Turn to 116.
Soon the passage turns to the west and you follow it. Almost immediately upon rounding the corner you see that you have arrived at a junction. A new passage opens to the south and the one you have been following continues west. You can see nothing down either passage.
If you wish to turn south, turn to 8.
If you would rather continue west, turn to 310.
You walk down the stairs, carefully testing each step, your eyes watching for signs that the staircase might give way. Your gaze is draw upwards by what appears to be the flutter of rich, purple robes, but by the time your eyes have focused ahead, whatever it may have been is gone. You realize that the stairs have brought you to another platform.
A strange, metal box with doors standing open in its front; probably an elevator of some sort, stands to your left. Black cables stretch from the roof of this box up into darkness. There is a single button, marked with an arrow pointing downward on the inside of the box, opposite the doors. To your right, a ramp, slick with green moss and moisture, disappears into shadows.
Will you:
Climb inside the metal box and press the button? If so, turn to 384.
Try carefully lowering yourself down the slick ramp? If so, turn to 130.
Or, re-ascend the staircase to the platform above, there to reclimb the chain to the first platform (turn to 62), or to step out onto the bridge to confront the cloaked figure (turn to 22)?
You draw the purple key from your backpack and insert it into the purple edged keyhole. It fits easily and turning it to the right you can feel the tumblers in the unseen locking mechanism rolling and hear a sharp click as the lock finally releases. Tugging on the key you are able to slide the entire brick from the wall.
The brick turns out to be hollow, and resting within it is a small, corked bottle containing a clear liquid. You uncork the bottle and sniff the liquid but can determine nothing.
Do you wish to drink the liquid? If so, turn to 349.
If not, you may, if you have not already done so already, try the pink key in the pink keyhole (provided you have a pink key) by turning to 226.
Or you may head west down the passage (turn to 363) or east (turn to 231).
Finally the wizard falls beneath your blade, and as he gasps his last breath, he, and all his possessions, disappear in a puff of smoke.
Sure that you must now be nearing your goal, you step up to the door and push it open.
The door lets onto a large room with a tall ceiling, coloured pillars again rising in support. The floor is green tile.
Another door, this one golden, stands opposite the one you now occupy.
On the northern wall, a passage leads away into darkness, but in front of this passage, blocking any egress in that direction, you see a giant, iron cage. What is inside the cage makes you gasp.
Your rival, Owen Wayford, is there, on his knees. One hand is clasped feebly around an iron bar of the cage, and the other is outstretched toward you, imploring. "Please," he begs, tears streaming down his face. "Please, set me free! Don't leave me here to die!"
You step closer to the cage and see that there is a keyplate and keyhole in one side. You might have an appropriate key to set him free.
If you have a platinum key and you wish to try it on the door to Owen's cage, turn to 234.
If you do not have such a key, or you do not wish to set him free, turn to 92.
You press the red button and flinch back as the machine begins to hum. Suddenly, a small tray protrudes from the side of the machine, on which sits a crystal globe. The globe is filled with dancing and swirling colours, and a feral, pulsing light, brighter than that from your lamp, spots the room with dazzling star points.
If you are curious, you may gaze into the globe by turning to 333.
If you haven't done so already you may press the green button by turning to 115.
Otherwise, since no other exits exist in this room, you must return to the main entry chamber to choose another door - turn to 73.
It is a great struggle but you are finally able to free your feet from their glued position on the web. It seems that portions of the web are stickier than others, and if you step in the right place you should be able to reach the helmet without becoming stuck again.
Will you step directly toward the helmet, which is nine feet out of reach to the east? If so, turn to 187.
Or will you step to the north (turn to 106) or to the east (turn to 252)?
You struggle to keep your head above the water, but to no avail. The undertow is too strong, the waves too high. With a final gasp of air your head slips under, your lamp dropping into the water and winking out with a hiss. You struggle for breath as all goes black around you. The current drags you down into the black depths of this subterranean lake, down and down and down... Your adventure ends here...
The passage does indeed come to a dead end only a short distance in. You are still about twelve feet from the end of the corridor when your light picks up a piece of parchment hanging from the wall. There is writing on the parchment, but only the top line, written in bold, block letters, is legible from this distance. The parchment reads, "DANGER!"
If you would like to approach the sign to read it better, turn to 57.
If you would rather take the sign's advice from a distance, return to the junction and take the western route, turn to 46.
You turn and run blindly to the east. The shriek sounds from behind you again, though the wind has died down now that you are out from the vicinity of the hole in the ceiling.
You see nothing, but you hear a strange grating sound come suddenly from the north and south.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 204. If you are Unlucky, turn to 422.
You yank the curtain aside, thrusting your sword before you to battle whatever may lie behind. But there is no snarling beast to fight, only a solid looking iron door. Pressing your ear to the door you can make out the sound of low grunting and something like metal striking stone.
Will you open the iron door to find what is making the sounds? If so, turn to
280.
Otherwise take a short hike back to the entrance chamber and choose a different door by turning to 73.
From the moment you step into this area of the web, your feet are glued to it.
The place where you saw the helmet is now some three feet east and six feet north. The doorway lies about nine feet west and six feet north.
You try to free your feet from the web's grasp. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must now decide whether to step west (turn to 476), north (turn to 140), or east, into the southeastern corner of the web (turn to 50).
The whicker cracks easily beneath your blade, and you soon have a hole large enough to peer through. It is very dark within, though, and what you are looking at is impossible to say. There does seem to be something moving in the darkness, however.
If you would like to widen your hole so that you may get a better look, turn to 66.
Otherwise, if you have a torch you may set the basket aflame, by turning to 447.
If you have fifty feet of rope, and you have not tried already, you may try to lasso the lid and pull it off, by turning to 236.
Or, you may edge past the basket and continue north, by turning to 5.
Launching yourself from the top of the stairs, you manage to grab hold of the chain fairly easily. To your horror, however, you discover that the chain is greased!
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 418. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 137.
You heave at the rope with all of your strength and at last the lid pops off, sliding down the edge of the basket and clattering heavily on the floor. Silence follows for moments afterwards before you become aware of a strange rasping sound emerging from the basket. You back away, hand going to your sword, and finally see a nightmarish sight. The hooded head of a GIANT COBRA has just peered over the top of the basket, and trailing a body at least forty feet in length, has begun making its way down the edge of the basket toward you. You know that the bite of the GIANT COBRA is very deadly.
If you have a bamboo flute, you may, if you wish, try to play a melody to charm the great snake, as you have seen fakirs and snake charmers do in your home town. To do this, turn to 45.
If you would do not have a bamboo flute, or prefer not to fight the cobra, you must now do battle with it. Turn to 121.
The dart whizzes by your ear, narrowly missing you. You now look through the door and realize you are staring into an even larger cavern than the one you are in. Turn to 118.
Maintaining the rhythm as best you can, you edge carefully by the GIANT COBRA and peer into its basket. The COBRA appears to be making no aggressive moves toward you.
At the far end of its basket you can make out a flask of some sort. Moving with great caution, you approach this flask and scoop it up, playing one handed on the flute until you can stuff the flask into a pocket. You quickly resume playing the full melody and then creep past the GIANT COBRA, still playing, as you head off down the corridor.
When you have put some distance between you and the GIANT COBRA, you stop playing and fish the flask from your pocket. It is labelled "Holy Water" and appears to contain some clear liquid. You place the flask in your backpack.
Turning south you can see that the great snake has taken a renewed interest in you, so you hurry along. Turn to 5.
The door lets onto a simple, square room with brown, tiled floor and white, plaster walls. Two long tables fill the centre of the room. On the left hand table is arrayed a gorgeous spread of many exotic foods on silver platters. Meats, breads and cheeses, all seemingly fresh are spread across the whole table. On the right hand table are lined glasses of what appear to be varied wines; red, white and even green!
Will you:
Sample the food? Turn to 51.
Taste the wines? Turn to 396.
Or just take a platter (writing it onto your Adventure Sheet) and leave the room to head east down the passage? Turn to 496.
The man waves his hand and a brass key with the number "1" inscribed on its face magically appears in mid-air before him, dropping to the floor with a soft tinkle. The man then motions for you to retrieve the key, which you do, eagerly, scooping it up and ramming it into the lock. The key fits and you turn it to the side. A muted click comes from within the box and its lid pops open. Inside, resting on a soft bed of vellum, you find 6 gold pieces, which you place into your backpack. (Note these on your Adventure Sheet).
You turn to thank the man, but to your surprise you see that he is now gone! You did not even hear him leave.
You place the remaining two boxes into your backpack with the gold and then walk to the door on the southern wall. Turn to 85.
With a final chop from your sword the statue finally cracks and then topples to the ground where it shatters. Scattering chunks of rock and dust with your foot you bend over and reach for the still intact parchment. Unrolling it and holding your light near to facilitate reading you can see that it is a magical scroll of some sort. You are not extremely versed in the language of magic, but it seems to be some sort of anti-magic spell, and may cause other spell users to lose their magical powers if read aloud in their presence. Re-rolling the scroll, you place it in your backpack and then continue east. Turn to 279.
On your first cast the lasso miraculously closes about the helmet, and drawing the noose gently closed you are able to yank the helmet from its perch upon the web. It clatters to your feet, and seeing the spider still stealthily advancing you slam the door shut and back away.
Picking up the helm, you examine it. It is beautifully carved with precious gems encrusted across its surface. But it is still a remarkable piece of armour, surely of dwarven design, and you may add 1 to your dice roll when computing your Attack Strength in combat as long as you wear it. Note it on your Adventure Sheet.
Placing it atop your head and returning the rope to your backpack, you strike off west, bypassing the junction and heading west down the new corridor. Turn to 255.
You manage to cling to the chain and your momentum propels you across the pit where you release the chain and leap to solid ground. Catching your breath, you turn and look back down into the pit. The bottom is lined with sharpened spikes. Had you fallen in, you surely would have died.
Your heart still beating wildly, you turn from the pit and continue east down the corridor. Turn to 201.
The vent shaft continues forward for several hundred feet. Your back begins to ache from crawling in this position for so long, and you are forced to rest several times along its length. As you crawl along you become aware of the growing odour of damp, rich earth. Eventually, however, the shaft ends at another vent. It is old and rusted and you are able to force it from its moorings with a few strong shoves. It falls to the floor beyond the vent shaft with a hollow clatter.
Cautiously, you haul yourself forward to the lip of the shaft and peer at your new surroundings.
The vent shaft lets onto another room some thirty feet wide east to west and fifty feet long north to south. Your shaft has entered this room somewhere in its southeastern corner, along its eastern wall. The walls are made of gray blocks, the earth of what appears to be a soft, fertile soil. From your position, some five feet off the ground, you can see a door in the western wall, at the northern end of the room. However, between your position and the door, bisecting the room, is a thick tangle some sort of creeping vine.
Seeing no opposition in the room, you pull yourself forward and drop to the ground, your feet leaving deep indentations in the moist soil. You step forward to examine the plant barrier.
You recognize it almost immediately as poison ivy. Being an adventurer you have had many run ins with this plant in the wild (though never such a massive wall of the stuff as you see here) and know that contact with the plant will leave you with a terrible irritation on your skin.
If you have a torch you may try to burn away the poison ivy, leaving yourself a method of passing to the door, by turning to 7.
If you wish, you may try to hack through it with your sword by turning to 290.
Or you may simply charge through the tangle of ivy vines to the other side by turning to 327.
Alternately, if you have a book about plant life you may try looking up poison ivy within it to see if the book has any helpful hints - turn to 338.
The man's foot steps dangerously close to your head, but you don't think he has seen you.
Suddenly you feel a sharp pain in your side and swivelling your head you can see that the man has spotted you after all, and has stabbed at you with his sword. Deduct 2 STAMINA points for the wound. Getting quickly to your feet, you draw your sword and prepare to fight the man.
To your horror, the man's shape suddenly begins to change. The features of his face ripple and run, and grayish hair starts to sprout all across his body. This is no man, but an evil WERERAT! Soon you are facing a six foot man-shaped thing with rat's features, wielding a sword!
You must fight it.
WERERAT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
If you win, turn to 48.
You have progressed down the passage only about eighty feet when you are stopped by a horrifying shriek which reverberates through the hall. You feel a sudden gust of wind coming from above you and your head swivels up to see that there is a jagged hole in the ceiling leading up into darkness.
Did you lose your lantern and are now lighting your way solely by torch? If so, turn to 97. If not, turn to 245.
Running blindly has its hazards and you have just encountered one of them. Blocking the path ahead of you, although you never know it, is a large, rounded boulder. You crash headlong into this and drop to the floor unconscious before you even realize you've struck something.
Perhaps you bleed to death. Perhaps whatever was pursuing you finds and devours your body. Perhaps another creature fills this role. The end result is the same. You know only darkness and silence, and your adventure ends here...
You sprint faster, perhaps, than you ever have before in your life, but it seems like an impossible effort. One of the pillars ahead is falling straight toward you! With a sudden surge of adrenalin you dive forward, throwing yourself into a roll and finally coming to rest, prostrate, in the centre of the corridor. The pillar crashes down directly behind you, narrowly missing your foot, sending clouds of choking dust into the air. You have avoided being crushed! Unfortunately, you are unable to avoid breathing in much of the stirred up dust, as you are now panting from your tiring wind sprint. Deduct 1 STAMINA point. When the dust clears you clean yourself off as best you can, and with a final glance backward at the jumble of stonework which now blocks the way north behind you, you continue south along your way. Turn to 316.
Thirty feet along the tunnel swings south again. You walk along the tunnel for only a moment before you see something hanging on the wall up ahead on the left. It seems to be a small cloth sack of some sort. Approaching closer you peek into the gaping mouth of the sack, but see only darkness. You try to remove the sack from the wall, but it refuses to budge, either sewn or magically affixed directly to the wall.
Do you wish to reach your hand inside the sack to see if there is anything your eyes may have missed? If so, turn to 124.
If you would rather leave the sack alone, you may do so by turning to 322 to continue south down the tunnel.
You grip the door's handle and pull it open.
You are standing in the doorway of a small, square room with earthen walls and floor. No other exits leave the room except the doorway you are standing in and at first glance you take the room to be empty. It is not entirely empty, however, for in the northeast corner of the room, resting secretively in the shadows on the floor, is a wooden mallet.
Will you cross the room to retrieve the mallet? If so, turn to 144.
If you would rather shut the door and continue north, turn to 359.
The box is not locked and the lid lifts off easily. Leaning forward you can see that within there rests a purple key, atop another smaller box.
You pick up the purple key (add it to your Adventure Sheet) and decide what to do next.
Will you now lift the lid off the second box (turn to 315) or would you rather leave it alone and continue to the south (turn to 13)?
You heave mightily against the boulder and it begins to give. You could move it, certainly, if you had more time. But can you do it before the WYVERN reaches you?
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 4.
If the result is greater than your SKILL score, then you are unable to roll the boulder aside in time and the WYVERN descends and takes a bite out of you. Deduct 4 STAMINA points and then turn to 484 to face the WYVERN.
After a short walk, the passage swings to the south. But there, in the corner where the westbound passage meets the southbound one is a squat stone statue. It appears to be a shrine, built to honour the good god Vestonis, Lord of Creation. A small, brass platter hangs from the one of the god's outstretched arms, and having seen such idols before in countless temples across the land, you know that the purpose is for the passerby to leave an offering to the god on the brass platter, in the hopes of receiving the god's favour.
If you wish to leave an offering of gold on Vestonis' platter, deduct from your Adventure Sheet however much gold you desire to leave and then turn to 104.
If you would rather ignore the idol and head south down the corridor, turn to 242.
The passage heads east for approximately one hundred feet before ending at a closed, wooden door. Pressing your ear against the door you can hear several low, guttural voices speaking to eachother from the other side.
Will you push the door open to find out who the speakers are? If so, turn to 381.
Or would you rather hustle back to the junction, there to take the western branch? (Turn to 194).
You shimmy down the chain carefully, finally dropping onto another wooden platform. As soon as your feet touch the solid wood beneath you, the chain fades into non-existence, leaving you with your hands clamped around nothing, and now way to climb back up to the platform above.
You are alone on the platform and you quickly survey your options.
In front of you, a long, stone stairway makes its way into darkness below. To your left, a narrow, rope bridge with wooden ties to stand on, leads across to the platform which the rope descended to. However, standing in the centre of the bridge, between you and the opposite platform, is a dark, cloaked figure with its arms crossed.
Will you:
Step onto the bridge with the figure in its middle, to approach the opposite platform? Turn to 22.
Descend the stairs? Turn to 399.
You soon arrive at a four-way junction. You came from the west, so you look down the other three passages.
To the north the passage continues for about thirty feet before turning east.
To the east the passage disappears into darkness.
The southern passage also appears to turn east after about thirty feet.
Will you head north (turn to 367), east (turn to 421) or south (turn to 332)?
Sifting through the garbage you eventually catch sight of something glinting in the heap. You reach for it, but as you do so, your hand scrapes painfully along a sharpened edge of metal, cutting you deeply. Deduct 2 STAMINA points. With horror, you also see that the sharpened edge of metal seems to have something minute moving along it, and bending for a closer inspection you recognize thousands of tiny WARP WORMS, an inter-dimensional parasite which, when entered into the bloodstream, induces dizziness in the host. You have now been infected! Deduct 1 from your SKILL score.
Since there is nothing you can do about the infestation (short of taking a Potion of Skill), you now reach for the glinting object and retrieve it, finding it to be a small, silver key. Record this on your Adventure Sheet.
Carefully avoiding the WARP WORMS, and already feeling the onset of dizziness, you now set about climbing over the mound. Unfortunately, your digging has now set the mound out of balance and, as you are nearing its apex, the entire mound shifts dangerously beneath you.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 481. If you are Unlucky, turn to 346.
Your clumsy movements awaken the bats and dozens of tiny eyes open all around you. Suddenly the air is filled with flapping and fluttering shapes, tiny fangs and outstretched claws. Fortunately you were braced for this and you immediately run forward, head tucked under your hands, eyes lifted just high enough to avoid collision with anything. You put the swarm behind you with only a few minor cuts. Deduct 2 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you continue north down the corridor. Turn to 393.
Clasping at the edge of the hole as you are being swept by, you try to pull yourself toward the suit of armour. Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 207. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 265.
You decide to take the final door, the one furthest from where Owen entered. You grasp its rusty handle and tug hard. The door opens reluctantly, on loudly squawking hinges. On the other side of it your lantern picks up a narrow passage heading north, its smooth walls carved directly from the stone of the mountain. You step into the passage cautiously and follow it ahead into the darkness. You have been walking for less than a minute when the passage reaches a junction.
To your right the passage bends into darkness. Ahead the passage continues into an equal black nothing.
If you wish to continue walking north, turn to 331.
If you would rather take the eastern branch, turn to 78.
Or, if both dark passages seem equally unattractive, you may return to the main entry chamber and choose a different starting door by turning to 73.
You cautiously tiptoe forward to a large outcropping in the natural, cave wall, and peer around it.
The room is quite extensive, perhaps forty feet by forty feet, with natural cave walls gouged by weeks or months of what appears to be mining.
Following the source of the sounds, you turn your head to the right and see a large man with the head of a bull, hacking at the northeastern corner of the room with a pick axe. Sweat sheens his exposed, human torso, and with each swing of the heavy implement he lets out a heaving grunt. You watch in amazement as, on a final stroke, he frees something shiny from the wall, which falls to his feet. The creature bends and picks it up, placing it in a small, leather bag at his side, a toothy grin on his face. He then turns back to continue his work on the wall.
In the centre of the eastern wall a dark passage leads out from this room.
The Minotaur has not seen you yet, and the sound of his labours may cover your passage. Would you therefore wish to try to sneak past the Minotaur to the eastern passage (turn to 185)? Or would you prefer a more direct approach, charging into the room bellowing, to challenge the Minotaur to combat (turn to 294)?
You spin and dive back through the mirror, feeling the same strange tingling sensation ripple through your body. But you are safely back in the hall again, and when you turn to face the mirror you see only yourself reflected. Lifting your lamp and moving your head you see no further trace of the room behind the mirror. Turning away and shaking your head you begin the trek northward once more. Turn to 182.
You step carefully onto the first stone, and begin picking your way across the water to the other side. Halfway across, the stones suddenly submerge in unison, dropping you into the chill, underground water.
Thinking quickly, you manage to hold your light aloft, keeping it from getting wet, but you get a lungful of foul tasting water in the process. Coughing and sputtering, you kick your way to shore. Deduct 1 STAMINA point.
If you are still alive, coughing and spitting, you make your way to the set of double doors in the southern wall. Turn to 210.
Sprinting past the creatures writhing form, you reach the stone door, grasping an iron run at its centre and pulling hard. The door will not budge, however.
You hear the clack of bone on stone as Allibor gets to his feet behind you.
"You do not escape so easy," comes the booming voice again, now tinged with pain. "The only way out of here is with my death," it tells you again.
Allibor is advancing once more and now you have no choice but to fight him. Your holy water injured him badly, but you missed an opportunity to kill him while he was distracted.
ALLIBOR SKILL 12 STAMINA 12
If you win, turn to 506.
You grasp the second rope and swing toward the third.
Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or less than your SKILL score, turn to 278. If the result is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 505.
Drawing the flask of holy water, you uncork the bottle and splash the contents on Allibor as he draws near (scratch it off your Adventure Sheet). A foul shriek fills the chamber and the creature drops to the floor, writhing.
Will you:
Attack it now, while it is down? If so, turn to 179.
Or run for the stone door opposite? If so, turn to 439.
As the pendulum is swinging by you leap forward, and grasp its wooden shaft, your feet actually resting now on the blade. The pendulum swoops toward the niche in the western wall and you have only enough time to pray that the niche is not so shallow you are crushed therein, and then the blade has passed into the alcove and you find that it is not an alcove at all, but a short passage heading west. You leap off the blade before it can swing back out and quickly make a decision. Will you follow this new passage to the west? If so, turn to 119.
Alternatively, you can leap back to the floor of the pendulum room before the pendulum returns and dash to either the door in the north wall (turn to 6) or back to the main entry chamber to choose a different path (turn to 73).
Or, if you haven't done so already, after leaping to the ground you may try to jump onto the pendulum again, this time to ride it up to the eastern alcove (turn to 41).
You are reaching toward the wall to try to scrape the spider off when you feel a sharp, pin-prick of pain on your knuckle. The spider has bitten you! In a frenzy, now, you bash your hand against the wall, squashing the spider, but it is too late. The damage has been done. Fiddler spiders are among the most poisonous spiders in the world, with a venom outstripping even that of the deadly black widow! You collapse to the floor as the toxin begins to take effect, feeling your body tense. When the convulsions at last pass, some twenty minutes later, and your exhausted eyes slip shut, bringing welcome darkness, you know that you are breathing your last. Your adventure ends here...
The DEATH SPECTRE will fight to the end.
DEATH SPECTRE SKILL 11 STAMINA 12
If you win, turn to 25.
The paper has a scribbled note upon it which you quickly read:
"When the choices do arise,
take the slick ramp leading down.
For the moving box, to your surprise,
will smash you down upon the ground."
Memorizing the poem's advise, you re-roll the scroll and place it in your backpack. You then head west. Turn to 455.
You walk slowly back to the junction.
Will you now head east (turn to 421) or south (turn to 332)?
Whicker burns quite easily, and soon the basket is a great pyre, its flames lapping at the ceiling. Something stirs once at the heart of the flames, but whatever it was surely perishes quickly because it stops moving and settles silent into the fire almost immediately.
The heat from the blaze is intense, forcing you to back up to the end of the corridor. Worse yet, the whicker smokes profusely, and you cannot help but inhale some of this smoke. Deduct 1 STAMINA point.
It is forty minutes before the flames have died down enough to allow you to approach - deduct 1 LUCK point for the lengthy delay. Sifting through the blackened ashes you find only the charred remains of what appears to be some sort of giant serpent.
Edging around the now defunct basket you continue to the north. Turn to 5.
Your backpack has become hopelessly tangled in the joints of a suit of old platemail. You struggle to unhook it, but to no avail. Your struggles slow and slow as you weaken and the world goes black. You spend the rest of eternity waving like a slowly rotting flag, feet flapping in the current near the hole in the old armoury wall. Your adventure ends here...
You manage to keep your head above water, just barely, by kicking and struggling. The waves carry you back to the beach to the south, and after a few minutes rest you decide that you still have no choice but to try to swim the lake.
Fortunately, you managed to keep your lantern above the waves through that whole ordeal.
Should you now try swimming west through the lake (turn to 23) or northwest (turn to 155)?
You tentatively push the door to the goblin domain back open and peer back inside. Many of the goblins are still milling about, disconcerted at their leader's decision to allow you to leave. One of them spots you in the doorway and points, shouting out, "He is back!"
The hobgoblin, still seated in his throne, glances up in angry shock at your return. "Why have you returned?" he demands.
"The gate -" you begin, but it is as far as you get.
"Kill him!" the hobgoblin screams, and leaps to his feet, the heavy black sword in hand.
The whole horde of goblins suddenly shouts its rage and all rush you simultaneously. You step back through the door, but know you are trapped, because the portcullis is still lowered. You turn and run to it nonetheless, only glancing at the levers before the goblins begin spilling from the door.
You draw your sword and turn to face them, but there are far too many to fight. You manage to bring down three of the goblins before they overwhelm you, sinking every manner of blade, and even their teeth, into you. You die in the corridor, felled by the horde, knowing that you will soon be served up as a meal for the goblins. Your adventure ends here...
You step toward the man and raise your hand in greeting. "Hello," you hazard. The man does not answer and you are shocked to suddenly witness a horrifying transformation in him. His features begin to melt and fold and grayish hair sprouts out all across his body. Soon his face seems not at all human, but almost rat-like! You are facing an evil WERERAT! It hisses and snarls, raising both its torch and sword. You must fight it.
WERERAT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
If you win, turn to 48.
You grasp the fourth rope and leap from it as it swings you out over solid land. Securely across the pool, you brush yourself off and continue south down the passage. Turn to 88.
A little ways later the passage takes a turn to the east and soon thereafter arrives at a T-junction. Here the passage forks to the north and south. Looking in each direction you can see nothing of interest, but since you have travelled so far to the south already, you decide to continue in that direction. Turn to 215.
You are unable to retrieve your rope, and realize you must leave it behind. Cross it off your Adventure Sheet.
Will you now:
Try to hack a hole in the whicker basket with your sword? If so, turn to 409.
Light the basket on fire with your torch (if you have one)? If so, turn to 447.
Or edge past the basket and continue on your way? If so, turn to 5.
A very short ways along the corridor comes to an intersection where it continues westward but a new passage also opens to the south. Seeing that the western corridor turns north very soon you decide against breaking your generally southward trend and decide to take the southern branch. Turn to 196.
You bring the bottle to your lips and down its contents in a single gulp. You feel a powerful surge of healing energy rush through your body and stare in happy wonder as all of your wounds begin to close! You have just taken a Potion of Strength, and may restore your STAMINA to its Initial level!
If you haven't done so already you may now use your purple key on the purple edged keyhole by turning to 400.
Or you may leave the wall and its keyholes and head either west (turn to 363) or east (turn to 231).
With a final swipe of your sword, the wraith dissolves into nothingness. You do a quick and cursory search of the room, turning up nothing, and eventually leave the room. Glumly, you continue your trek. Turn to 453.
You turn your back on the pit and trot back to the intersection.
Will you now head east (turn to 421) or north (turn to 225)?
A short ways past the body of the CAVE TROLL you arrive at a junction where the passage splits to the north and south. The passage to the north appears indistinct, but to the south you can see the corridor soon after swings to the east, and there, in the corner, is what looks to be a pedestal of some sort. You decide to investigate it, and take the southern corridor. Turn to 391.
As you pull the door open there is the sharp click and twang of a trap being triggered. A dart spits out through the now open door, flying with terrific speed.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 412. If you are Unlucky, turn to 40.
You begin walking directly toward the pearl, however, as soon as your foot crosses a black section of floor, searing flames burst from the pattern, engulfing you! You dance backwards, out of the way of the flames, but not before you are singed. Lose 4 STAMINA points. The flames die down as you leave the vicinity of the pattern. If you are still alive, you step back to reconsider your options.
You can now follow the white pattern in to the centre of the spiral by turning to 191.
Or you can follow the black pattern in to its centre by turning to 99.
Or, if you've had enough of being burned, you can leave the room and head north down the tunnel by turning to 28.
You pay the creature a single gold piece (deduct this from your Adventure Sheet) and hurry along past it to the other platform.
Here, a stone staircase descends into darkness ahead of you. Looking up, you see that the chain which originally led down to this platform is now gone.
If you wish to descend the staircase, turn to 399.
If you would rather walk back out onto the bridge to confront the figure again, turn to 22.
Moving as stealthily as you can, you tiptoe under the sleeping bats.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 257. If you are Unlucky, turn to 433.
Fumbling the spikes and mallet from your backpack, you pound one of them into the cracked stone ground in front of the door (deduct one from your Adventure Sheet), just before the giants reach it. You hear their cries of surprise as they find the door barred. Their cries soon turn to rage and they begin throwing their weight against the door. Immediately it begins to buckle. The spike or the door will give before long.
Will you quickly try to remove the vent from the wall and climb up inside? If so, turn to 159.
If you would rather wait for the giants to burst into the room and fight them here, turn to 292.
Clinging even more tightly with your legs you draw your sword just in time to swipe at this creature.
You must fight the Pterodactyl, but due to your precarious position, subtract 2 from your SKILL points for this combat only. If, at any point in the combat, the Pterodactyl hits you, subtract the usual amount of STAMINA points from your Adventure Sheet, note the Pterodactyl's current STAMINA, and turn to 114.
PTERODACTYL SKILL 5 STAMINA 4
Turn to 114
If you win without being struck a single time, turn to 33.
(Extra if tt Link added by Editor.)
As you begin tracing the white spiral back out, flames burst from the pattern and engulf you! You immediately step back to your former position and the flames die down, but not before you are singed badly. Deduct 4 STAMINA points. If you are still alive, you must decide how to get out of this magical flame trap.
Will you step over to the black spiral and follow it out? If so, turn to 372.
Or would you rather walk straight across the pattern to the door? If so, turn to 261.
The corridor leads east for a short distance before ending at a closed door. Pressing your ear against door you can hear nothing beyond it.
Will you open the door? If so, turn to 91.
If you would prefer to leave the door, head back to the junction and take the western corridor instead, turn to 255.
You have only taken a single step into the slime, sinking instantly to your knee, when you feel a horrible burning sensation begin. The slime is terribly corrosive and has already begun eating at your leg! Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
Yelping, you leap backwards and your leg comes free with a loud sucking sound, barely maintaining your boot. You scrape the residual slime from your leg on the wall of the tunnel and reconsider your options.
Will you now try swinging across the slime on the ropes? If so, turn to 320.
Or would you prefer to prod at the slime with your sword tip? (Turn to 258).
You place a single gold piece into the coin slot next to the torch. (Deduct 1 gold from your Adventure Sheet). The manacles clutching the torch release with a loud click, and the torch drops to the floor. You pick it up and place it in your backpack.
If you have the necessary gold you may now try to purchase any item you have not previously tried to purchase.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the knife, turn to 193.
If you have 4 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the potion, turn to 230.
If you have 2 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the rope, turn to 176.
If you have 5 gold pieces and wish to spend them on the shining sword, turn to 79.
Or, you may leave the room and return to the junction, choosing either the north leading passage (turn to 331) or the south leading one, back to the main entry chamber, there to choose a different path (turn to 73).
The door creaks open on well-rusted hinges. As it nears being fully opened the top most hinge actually gives way with a loud popping sound, leaving the door to hang at a crazy, disjointed angle.
The room beyond is square, approximately twenty feet across. The walls are made of uneven and jagged gray blocks, and the floor of packed earth. At the opposite end of the room you can make out the rounded edge of some sort of pit, and hanging by a nearly invisible, silver thread overtop the pit is what appears to be a bamboo flute.
You approach the pit cautiously and peer over its edge. The bottom is only about seventeen or eighteen feet down with a slick, muddy bottom. You can discern nothing specific down there, but it is difficult to tell from your vantage point.
The bamboo flute dangles out of your reach, though you can touch it with your outstretched sword. It occurs to you that you might be able to sever the silver thread which holds the flute, but it could be difficult to keep the flute from falling into the pit.
If you have any length of rope you could try tying it to an outcropping of rock from the wall and lowering yourself into the pit, (dropping the last five or six feet if your rope is only six feet long), by turning to 76.
If you would prefer to stay above the pit you may try cutting the thread with your sword and batting the flute onto the floor before it can disappear into the dark, by turning to 353.
Alternately, you could leave the flute and pit alone, returning to the corridor to continue south by turning to 218.
You try to react to the sound of the trap's release, but your timing is two slow. The arrow impacts with your chest! Fortunately your heavy leather armour protects you from being too seriously injured, but the arrow's tip has still drawn blood, where its tip has penetrated shallowly into your left breast. Lose 2 STAMINA points. Cursing, you yank the arrow from your flesh wound and from your armour and cast it to the muddy floor beside you. You then step through the open doorway and into the darkness beyond. Turn to 321.
Fighting to maintain your balance you clamber out onto the spider's web. You realize you might have made a mistake when after only a few clumsy steps toward the spider you feel your feet adhering to the web's resin coating. You are unable to continue moving forward!
Glancing downward you still cannot see the floor of this room. It disappears into shadows at least forty feet down.
The spider is advancing toward you!
If you wish, you may hack at the webs which are gluing your feet, by turning to 222.
Or you may remain immobile, wait for the spider to reach you and try fighting it from a stationary position (turn to 301).
The man does not notice you and disappears over the top of the rubbish. When the dim glow of his torch has faded and you no longer hear his footsteps, you get to your feet, brush yourself off, and head east toward the junction. Turn to 431.
You are showered with pieces of soft stone, but manage to avoid a truly heavy series of objects which land in the hallway near to you with a loud clatter. When the rain of debris has finished you edge forward to investigate.
Laying amidst bits of ceiling are three small, iron boxes, still attached to the rope that you pulled. You pick them up and try each lid, but all are locked, and their lips are too compressed to allow you to try to pry them apart with your sword point.
If you have any keys, you try each in turn on the small locks, but none of them fit.
You place all three boxes, with the rope still attached, into your backpack (note them on you Adventure Sheet) and continue west down the passage. Turn to 171.
The place where you saw the helmet is now some six feet to the east and three feet to the south. The doorway is six feet to the west and three feet to the south. This area of the web seems relatively unsticky and you are able to stand freely.
Will you step north (turn to 95), east (turn to 270), south (turn to 168) or west (turn to 106)?
As soon as you step into this area, both feet become firmly glued to the web!
The place where you saw the helmet lies some six feet east and six feet north. The doorway is approximately six feet west and six feet north.
You try to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must decide whether to step north (turn to 492), east (turn to 408) or west, into the southwest corner of the web (turn to 274).
The bear is very hungry, and fights savagely.
GRIZZLY BEAR SKILL 8 STAMINA 10
If you win, you edge around the bear's mighty carcass and continue south - turn to 351.
You make it to the top with relative ease and then set off westward. Turn to 314.
You stride confidently between the pillars admiring their fine architecture when you see something frightening. The farthest set of pillars ahead of you have begun to lean in toward you! Turning your head only slightly you can see that all the pillars are leaning toward you! They are collapsing inward! Sprinting forward as fast as you can, you try to get past the pillars before they can collapse.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 423. If you are Unlucky, turn to 49.
You dive for the small mound at the centre of the footprint, where the pouch stands upright. But can you make it fast enough?
Roll 2 dice. If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 202. If the result is greater than your SKILL, turn to 65.
The rubbish pile is very difficult to climb, and it keeps shifting dangerously beneath your weight. The smell emanating from it is awful as well. But, picking your way, carefully avoiding sharpened points of metal and a single rotting rat crawling with maggots, you eventually reach the other side intact. Brushing yourself off, trying to fight the moue of disgust from your face, you continue eastward.
A short way down the passage you here footsteps approaching from a junction ahead. You have just enough time to make a decision before the source of the footsteps comes into view.
Will you:
Douse your light and hide in the shadows near the rubbish pile to hope whatever is approaching will pass you by? If so, turn to 352.
Or wait to see what is coming into the junction - turn to 373.
You pound an iron spike into the ground and tie your rope around this. You test it several times, concerned about the solidity of the earthen floor, but the spike seems quite stable. Satisfied, you turn and lower yourself into the pit.
Your feet touch down on the muddy bottom of the pit and you hold your light high, searching the corners for danger and treasure alike. You find neither. The pit appears totally empty.
You climb back up to the surface and reconsider your options.
You realize now that if you sever the thread and the flute falls into the pit, you can easily climb back down to retrieve it.
If you would like to sever the thread and fetch the flute from the bottom of the pit, turn to 67.
Or you may leave the room, gathering your rope first, and continue your quest by turning to 138.
Gripping tightly with both arms and legs you begin lowering yourself toward the grassy ground beneath you. You are only perhaps fifteen feet above the ground when a terrifying shriek rips out above you, causing your head to swing up. A great shape has blotted out some of the sky and your eyes widen as you recognize what it is. The shape is that of a prehistoric bird, a Pterodactyl, which is swooping down toward you, bony beak opened wide.
Will you drop the fifteen feet to the ground below, hoping the vegetation will help break your fall, so that you may fight the Pterodactyl on solid ground? If so, turn to 374.
Or will you cling to the tree to try to ward the great bird off with your sword, so that you may climb down carefully? Turn to 465.
You draw your sword and prepare to fight the WYVERN.
WYVERN SKILL 10 STAMINA 14
If you kill it, turn to 110.
You are halfway down the ladder when the rung you place your weight on gives way. You drop the remaining ten feet to the sandy floor of the cavern. Fortunately, the cavern breaks your fall somewhat - deduct only 2 STAMINA points.
If you are still alive, you get to your feet, realizing with relief that you have reached the bottom! Turn to 116.
Swatting and swearing, you manage to beat all of the foul things off of you. Crawling frantically to avoid any that may still be scuttling about that section of the shaft, you continue onwards. Turn to 419.
You decide that the safest measure would be to sprint the distance to the door, to minimize the risk of being attacked while exposed. You crouch low and then spring into action, charging across the open field. Almost immediately you can hear the loud and agitated squawks of Pterodactyls which have surely seen you. It makes you run all the harder.
You make it across the clearing and tug at the door's handle. The door swings open easily to reveal... only solid cliff face beyond it! This is a dead end!
You spin around again, intending to charge back to the cover of the trees, but already you can see that three of the Pterodactyls have sprung from the cliff to attack. They are upon you in moments.
First PTERODACTYL SKILL 5 STAMINA 5
Second PTERODACTYL SKILL 5 STAMINA 4
Third PTERODACTYL SKILL 4 STAMINA 3
All three Pterodactyls will get a separate attack on you in each Attack Round, but you must choose which of the three you will fight. Attack your chosen Pterodactyl in a normal battle. Against the other you must throw for your Attack Strength in the normal way, but even if your Attack Strength is greater, you will not wound it. You must just count this as though you have defended yourself against its blow. However, if its Attack Strength is greater, it will have wounded you in the normal way.
You may escape at any time by sprinting back to the tree line, there to run to the door in the western cliff face, however, as this will expose you to attack over a long distance from the three Pterodactyls, you must lose 4 STAMINA instead of the usual 2 you would lose for fleeing. To take this option, turn to 82.
If you beat all three Pterodactyls, turn to 244.
The smudge you saw turns out to be some sort of vast pit that fills the width of the corridor. There is no way to pass by the pit without going over it and the pit looks far too vast to jump across. To make matters worse, although the pit itself does not look that deep, you can see, glancing down within it, the writhing shape of a GIANT PYTHON, its muscular coils and slick scales glinting obviously beneath your light. It eyes you from its confinement.
There may be a way across the pit, however. For, pounded securely into the stone ground before you is a solid looking wooden peg. Leading from this peg to a similar peg on the opposite side of the pit is a thick and sturdy looking rope. The pegs each protrude about a foot from the ground, with the rope at the top, meaning the rope is also about a foot above the ground, or about seven feet above the bottom of the pit.
You could try, if you wish, grasping the rope, allowing your body to dangle into the pit and going hand over hand across, by turning to 343.
If you think your acrobatic skills are up to it you could try walking across the rope to the other side, by turning to 208.
If you feel like confrontation you could jump down into the pit to face the GIANT PYTHON directly with your sword. To do this, turn to 164.
Or you could return to the previous junction and try the southern passage by turning to 308.
After only a short distance the passage turns east. Marble has given way to rough, black stone on both the walls and floor. You walk down this dark hall for only a few moments before your light picks out an obstruction up ahead. Garbage; cans, skulls and assorted rubbish are all piled high, filling the entire corridor, leaving barely enough room for a man, stooped, to climb over.
Would you like to climb over the pile of rubbish? If so, turn to 481.
If you would rather search through the rubbish first, turn to 283.
You spin and lunge for the shield as jagged bits of stone fall all around you. Roll 1 die and subtract 3. If this number is positive, lose this many STAMINA points from the falling rocks.
Then, tucking your body into a small ball, you crouch beneath the shield, which is held protectively over your head.
The stones rain down like hail, pelting the shield with loud dinging noises, though you remain perfectly safe. You peer out from under your metallic umbrella as the jagged pebbles pile up on the floor around you.
You are alarmed, all of a sudden, to see a stone which seems much more sizable than the others also drop to the floor in front of you. You are thinking it is an isolated incident until you feel a hard blow on the shield, echoed by a loud clang, as a hefty chunk of rock rolls off the shield. The room is collapsing!
You get to your feet, intending to sprint to the corridor, but it is now too late. The walls themselves are swinging down atop you, the ceiling now just a gray fall of rubble. You are crushed beneath the weight of tons of rock.
Your adventure ends here...
Standing on tiptoe, you saw away at the rope, eventually retrieving approximately six feet. Record your six feet of rope on your Adventure Sheet, and then continue west down the passage by turning to 171.
As soon as your feet touch down on the web here they become stuck fast.
The place where the helmet was now lies some six feet to the east and three feet north. The doorway lies some three feet north and six feet west.
You struggle to free your feet. Roll 2 dice. If the result is greater than your SKILL turn to 303.
Otherwise, you manage to free yourself and must decide whether to step north (turn to 168), east (turn to 140), south (turn to 476) or west (turn to 252).
The door is locked.
Do you have a silver key? If so, and you would like to use it on this door, turn to 217. If not, or you would rather not try unlocking the door, you are forced to continue south - turn to 398.
The statue is magnificently carved; almost life-like. You marvel at the intricately carved armour and the curve of its wicked, stone sword. Peering behind it you can see that the statue wears a stone backpack, and protruding from this backpack is a piece of rolled parchment, not carved, but real.
If you wish to reach out and take the parchment from the stone warrior's backpack, turn to 148.
If you would rather leave the statue alone and hurry on by, turn to 279.
You clamber down the rope and drop onto another wooden platform. As soon as your feet touch solid ground, the rope fades into non-existence, leaving you with your hands clamped around air and no way to climb back up to the platform above. In front of you, a long, spiralling slide disappears into darkness. On your right, a rope bridge with wooden ties to stand on makes its way across to the other platform where the chain descended to. However, standing in the centre of the bridge is a shadowy, cloaked figure, its face obscured, its arms crossed. It makes no move toward you.
Will you:
Slide down the slide? Turn to 128.
Step out onto the bridge to confront the figure? Turn to 501.
The passageway goes east for roughly sixty feet before turning north. Now the signs of man's handiwork on the tunnel is undeniable as the smooth stone gives way to polished marble, casting back the reflections of your light and magnifying it. Even the floor is made of marble and your boots make loud, echoing noises with each step you take.
Some thirty feet into the passage you see a small, leather pouch lying discarded against one wall.
Will you retrieve and open the pouch? If so, turn to 213.
If you would rather leave the pouch and continue on your way, turn to 489.
Grimacing in disgust at the slick sounds, you slip the boots from the corpse's putrid body. You sit in the corridor and remove your own boots, slipping the new boots into place. A tingling sensation tickles your toes, and you flinch, thinking something must be alive in there, but all at once a flooding knowledge rushes to your brain. As often happens with enchanted items, its intrinsic nature becomes revealed to you as you attempt to use it. You have just donned Boots of Heat Resistance! These magical boots may protect your feet from even the most potent of heat! Happily, you get to your feet and continue on your quest, your new boots tapping out a rhythm on the stone floor of the corridor.
Turn to 69.
You have taken only two steps into this new passage when the floor opens up beneath you. You drop approximately ten feet to land on a jagged pile of rubble. Deduct 4 STAMINA points. If you are still alive, you are about to climb back out when you see a narrow passage leading northwest, down here in the pit. Eyeing the climb, and realizing it would be difficult, you decide to try your luck with this passage instead. Turn to 289.
Intaking a deep breath and saying a prayer, you wait till the pendulum is at its lowest point and leap toward it. Your eyes shut instinctively, but you feel your arms wrap around the pendulum's wooden shaft, and you are unharmed. You open your eyes and turn to face the darkness of the swiftly approaching niche. If the alcove is particularly shallow you may yet be squashed against the stony wall of its interior.
The pendulum enters the niche, where your lamp illuminates a shallow room, no larger than a closet. As the blade begins to retract you instinctively step off.
The room is so small that when the blade makes its return on the next arc you are sure to be badly injured. You are just about to leap out of the niche when you notice something glittering on the wall within the niche.
The blade has already reached the opposite alcove and will make its return momentarily. Do you wish to investigate the glitter, even though you have only moments? If so, turn to 149.
If not, you leap down from the alcove and, scrambling ahead of the pendulum, make your way either to the door on the northern wall (turn to 6) or back to the main entry chamber to try a different door (turn to 73). Or, after leaping to the ground you may try another daring jump onto the swinging pendulum, this time to ride it to the western alcove (turn to 189).
You draw the sword from your pack, dodging lightning bolts as you do so. You read the incantation aloud, and note that the wizard pales visibly as you do so.
As you reach the last syllable of the spell, the scroll suddenly disintegrates in your hands, crumbling to nothing but ashes. Remove it from your Adventure Sheet.
"You may have destroyed my magic!" the wizard screeches at you. "But you haven't killed me yet!" With that he draws a wicked looking dagger from his belt and rushes toward you.
You must fight him, though he will be much easier to defeat without his magical powers.
WIZARD SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 401.
As you approach the figure it lifts its hooded head. You are alarmed to see that beneath its cowl there is only empty space! The creature is faceless! It uncrosses its arms and you see that its sleeves end in emptiness as well. The creature appears to be comprised of a hooded robe, draped over nothing.
A hollow voice, cold and lifeless, yet filled with a great sorrow, mourning an eternity of life in death perhaps, speaks to you. "One gold piece to cross the bridge," it says, extending its empty sleeve.
If you have a gold piece and you wish to pay the robed figure, turn to 462.
If you don't, you may turn around and walk back to the platform behind you and descend the slide - turn to 128.
Or you may draw your sword and attack the robed figure by turning to 375.
Test your Luck.
If you are Lucky, turn to 59.
If you are Unlucky, turn to 307.
You run westward down the passage, past the junction, but the CAVE GIANTS give chase! The passage ends at a wooden door which you fling open and run through, heedless of consequences, slamming the door behind you.
You find yourself in a small chamber devoid of all furniture. The walls are made of crumbling, orange brick, the floor made of cracked stone. The room is only about twenty feet on each side, and there are no other exits except the one you came through.
On the wall opposite you, about five feet off the ground, is a metal vent, three feet high by two feet wide.
The CAVE GIANTS are slow and cumbersome, so you've left them some ways behind you. You have a few moments before they come through the door. If only you could block it with something.
Do you have a wooden mallet and iron spikes? If so, and you want to try to spike the door shut, turn to 464.
If you lack one or both of these items, or you'd rather face the GIANTS in an honest fight, turn to 292.
When you landed on your back you shattered all your potions! Scratch them all of your Adventure Sheet. In addition, the glass from the broken vials has scratched your back. Deduct 2 STAMINA points and turn to 146.
You are just reaching out for the third rope when you miss your grip and drop toward the slime beneath you. Your legs both plunge below the green surface and you feel an instant shooting pain. The slime is highly corrosive! Deduct 2 STAMINA points. In a frenzy, you grasp for the third rope to try to haul yourself up out of the slime.
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 278. If you are Unlucky, turn to 367.
Beyond the door is a passage heading east. You have little choice but to enter it, since the only other way out of this room is back the way you came. You head in. Turn to 498.
As the last of your blows lands home, a loud shriek fills the crypt and Allibor's skeletal corpse loses all cohesion, dropping to the floor into a meaningless pile of bones.
Out of breath, you are alarmed by another sound behind you. You spin to see the stone door swing open onto a now brightly sunlit day. You see grass and trees in the distance. And you see the gaping faces of all of Antir's townsfolk, who have gathered at this stone door for decades, never expecting to see it actually open, never expecting a champion to best Allibor's Tomb. A gasp runs through the crowd and then they fall silent, looking at you in confusion and wonder.
You stoop and gather many of Allibor's foul bones into your hands, shuffling, limping, to the doorway. The crowd eyes you with mingled awe and unease. Some are smiling. Some are frowning.
You draw a deep breath, savouring the sweet smell of the outside, before finally addressing the crowd. "Take these," you yell, hurling the bones into the crowd, "and scatter them to the four corners of the world! Your trial is bested. Your dead king sleeps! Let no one else be forced to try their hand in this morbid challenge!"
You limp out of the tomb, onto beautiful grass, hearing birds chirp and flit in the trees. You see the barmaid you intervened on behalf of, watching you from a distance tears of quiet joy in her eyes. She has the look of hero worship in her eyes. Many of the people around you do.
But none have yet spoken, and some look frightened, or even angry at your success. You have beaten the Trial of Allibor's Tomb, and you have laid a cruel tyrant to rest. But you have ended decades of tradition for this town, and some of the townsfolk, you are sure, would be pleased to let the bloodshed continue in order to further line their own pockets with gold.
But there are enough in the crowd who are thrilled to have the deadly Trial put to rest, enough who are aware that some year it may have been their names drawn in lottery to enter the Tomb. These voices now swell in a grateful cheer and hundreds rush in on you, hoisting you onto shoulders and carrying you off toward the town chanting your name.
As you are carried past Allibor's silent skull, encased within the crystal cube at the entrance to the labyrinth, you pray that he will stay silent, and that the Trial has been beaten forever.