[AD&D Gamebook] Sceptre of Power (Kingdom of Sorcery, book 1 of 3)

[Joshua Randall]

Team Good Guys has given Carr several different reasons to refuse to help them.

• They think that Carr “might” be able to survive contact with the sceptre.
• They tell Carr he has to choose between the sceptre that “might” kill him and his father’s spellbooks which Thayne originally promised to help Carr understand.
• They seem confused about how the sceptre even works.
• They plan to send Carr on this suicide mission in the company of a teenage girl, rather than the experienced thief / magic-user or the powerful archdruid.

Given all that, what happens if we QUITE REASONABLY say “no thanks”?

---

63

[This is a fun "death".]

We state that nothing will stop us from trying for our father's spellbooks. Perth says he can't let us do that, because it will put the entire academy on guard and prevent anyone from slipping inside to get the sceptre.

[Dude. Dude! THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE. We just established IN THIS CONVERSATION that, according to Dalris and Perth, the way to get to the sceptre AND the (supposed) spellbooks is through Landor's quarters. So for Carr to say that he's going for the spellbooks or for Dalris to say that she's going for the sceptre -- THEY'RE GOING TO THE SAME LOCATION! Either it is possible for the two of them to slip into the academy undetected or it's not. It doesn't matter if the reason they slip in undetected is object A, object B, or both. Put another way: when Carr and Dalris show up at the academy, there’s not going to be a door-guard who asks them the question, “Why are you here? To get Landor’s spellbooks? ALERT, DANGER, ATTACK!” Vs. “Why are you here? To get the Sceptre of Power? Oh, that’s fine then, carry on.”]

Being a hot-headed teenager with WIS 3, we want to know how Perth is going to stop us. Have we mentioned that we are THE Carr Delling? Descendant of an ARCHMAGE whose power filled the GODS THEMSELVES with fear!

Perth says, "If I must, the spell known as Feeblemind would do."

We leap to our feet and make a run for it only to hear a spellword behind us. Suddenly we feel empty in the head [how can we tell the difference? zing!] and wander from the hut "with the mind of a moronic child."

[I told you this was a fun "death".]

[BTW, Feeblemind is a level 6 druid spell in AD&D, which means that Perth is at least 11th level. Possibly 13th level if we take “archdruid” as his level title. Either way, he’s hella powerful.]

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

"Thayne's spells can handle Beldon," we say.

Because he has displayed an ability to cast, and teach, 1st level spells, he's at the same level than Beldon, which is the apprentice to a wizard whose power rivalled the god themselves. That's a vote of confidence.

[What character class is Thayne meant to be? He self-describes as a thief when you meet him,

Also, he has tried to steal our money pouch.

There's an awkward silence and then Thayne explains that he cannot go because the academy is "well guarded" [LOL whut?] and because Beldon would recognize Thayne [OK, that's fair].

OK for recognizing Beldon but how can a college can be "well guarded"? They are welcoming new students, unless they are doomed to close at some point in the future, so they can't really be access-restricted, let alone guarded. The tower or administration building, maybe, but the academy itself, it's another white lie.

But Dalris rains on our parade: "If the Sceptre of Bhukod comes into contact with the spellbooks, their dweomers will probably be drained."

[Crazy idea, but just hear me out: what if we DON'T put the sceptre into contact with the spellbooks? I know it'll be difficult, given that a diamagnetic substance like gold is irresistibly attracted to paper, but maybe if we try really hard we can keep them apart.]

Lol. Also, having the book's magic drained is the least of our problem. It won't make them impossible to read, only to have their protective dweomer drained. Unless they know more.

"If my research is accurate," Dalris continues,

She's a teenager, remember.

"you'll have to choose between recovering either the spellbooks or the wand, but not both."

[Aieeeee! This is what happens when you lie: you have to make up additional, ever more ridiculous, lies to cover your first lie. Y’know, like a lie that a golden sceptre will drain the dweomer of a book if they come into contact.]

You can have either the chocolate or a sweet, but not both. What kind of sentence is that, and also, how can she expect us to choose the crummy sceptre (that can't be used by anyone except us) over our spellbooks?

[Or you make up a false choice that actively subverts your own goals! There is zero reason for a false choice here because THERE ARE NO SPELLBOOKS IN THE TOWER -- the spellbooks are already in the druid grove!

Actually, this path is much worse than the one where we join the academy. IIRC, Dalris admitted to lying while inside Landor's room. If she had just lied seconds after we threatened her with her own dagger, it would be OK, it was not something elaborate. Here, it's an elaborate ploy to make Carr think he'll get the spellbook, while they all know the books are elsewhere and they could make fun of Carr after he left, calling him a doofus.

Dalris has to set up a convoluted lie that forces a hard choice upon Carr when NO SUCH CHOICE IS ACTUALLY NEEDED and Carr ALREADY AGREED to help get the sceptre. By telling this lie, Dalris gives Carr a DIFFERENT reason to refuse the call to adventure that he ALREADY ACCEPTED!]

(30) if we help the "Kandians" recover the Sceptre of Bhukod and "forfeit our father's spellbooks", or
(63) if we refuse to help them.

There is no rational reason to choose the first solution. However, we remember that section 63 was a bad ending section, so I think we must accept to forfeit our father's inheritance and which we devoted ourselves to get back in Wendel's hut, right beside our mother dead body.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Also, I'd really like section 63 to last more.

Perth cast Feeblemind.
We stand stupidly for a few days.
The spell's effect expires -- it did expire in AD&D, didn't it? Or did he lobotomize us forever?
Thayne and Dalris don't come back, since they are either dead by Beldon's death spell, have fallen while climbing the tower, were disintegrated by the lethal door, or picked up the scepter.
Carr gloats "who is the feeblemind? <insert sentence children use to express their glee by teasing, in French na na na na nère.>

 

[Joshua Randall]

Dalris admitted to lying while inside Landor's room. If she had just lied seconds after we threatened her with her own dagger, it would be OK, it was not something elaborate. Here, it's an elaborate ploy to make Carr think he'll get the spellbook

An excellent point. A lie tossed off in the heat of the moment is still a lie, but it's less cruel and manipulative than one that takes advance setup. And repeated reinforcement! This isn't a single lie that Team Good Guy mentioned subtly a while back to send Carr down their preferred path. This is a lie that gets trotted out time and again... but as I have ranted, it's being trotted out unnecessarily because the first lie already worked.

Assuming you, the player/reader, don't choose the paths that go to Your Quest Ends Here, the conversation goes something like this....

Team Good Guys (TGG): Beldon is up to something eeeeevil. You have to help us, Carr!

Carr: strikes a heroic pose You can count on me!

TGG: Great, but also you need to forget the spellbooks, which previous members of the team told you were important, and are definitely located in Landor's study, in favor of the sceptre that might possibly kill you.

Carr: I shall... gosh this is tough... well, OK. Sure. Yes. I will get the sceptre. To Landor's study!

TGG: Did we mention that the spellbooks are also in Landor's study. But you need to give up on those spellbooks, your father's precious legacy to you.

Carr: strikes a heroic, yet sad, pose It is a sacrifice I am prepared to make.

TGG: And remember, when you get the sceptre, don't touch it to the spellbooks, which are in Landor's study, because it would drain their dweomer.

Carr: Yes. Right. ... Wait. I thought you said I should forget the spellbooks. Why do you keep bringing them up?

TGG: The spellbooks, Carr, the spellbooks! You must choose between them and the sceptre!

Carr: I ALREADY CHOSE THE SCEPTRE - WHAT IN THE NAME OF GYGAX IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!

I think we must accept to forfeit our father's inheritance and which we devoted ourselves to get back in Wendel's hut, right beside our mother dead body.

I totally forgot that it was Wendel who first planted the idea that the spellbooks are our real inheritance! This just gets better and better.

Perth cast Feeblemind.

Duration: Permanent.

Feeblemind is one nasty, nasty spell in AD&D. Its drawbacks are Range: Touch and Casting Time: 8 Segments (meaning you are not getting it off before the target has a chance to blast you first). There is a saving throw, but the primary intended targets of Feeblemind, magic-users, take a whopping -4 penalty to their saves.

Feeblemind can be undone by Heal, Restoration, or Wish -- the big guns of "undo badness" magic in AD&D -- but otherwise? If you fail your save, you're a drooling idiot FOREVER.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I doubt that team Good would Restore you after their deed, especially if Perth had just lost Landor's his daughter in the worst-planned heist in history. But it makes the ending especially mean.

It is usually Bad Guys (and I might add, Cackling Evil Bad Guys) who cripple their own champions when they fail to produce optimal results...

 

[Joshua Randall]

Let's turn the pages of our gamebook back and try not to become any more feeble of mind than we already are.

---

(67, redux, and just the choice of go-forward sections)
"If my research is accurate," Dalris continues, "you'll have to choose between recovering either the spellbooks or the wand, but not both."

(30) if we help the "Kandians" recover the Sceptre of Bhukod and "forfeit our father's spellbooks", or
(63) if we refuse to help them.

30

We have dreamed of Landor's spellbooks forever, but now we must give them up in favor of the sceptre.

"You're our last hope, Carr!" Perth says, batting his eyelashes and channeling Princess Leia's holographic message.

[You thought Dalris would deliver the famous line, didn't you?]

Dalris volunteers to help us recognize the sceptre, which we could not otherwise hope to identify [couldn't she, y'know, describe it for us?] and Thayne volunteers to get us past Beldon's "corps of spies in Freeton." [brace-of-lions pirates, J'Accuse!]

Turn to (34).

---

34

Thayne says we'll need a disguise so he gives us his old novice robe that he still has from when he studied under Landor.

[As it turns out, we will encounter no-one at the College Arcane itself on this path, so the disguise is unnecessary. When we reach the vault, Beldon will somehow magically appear, at which time he will recognize us regardless of what clothing we're wearing.]

Dalris hasn't bothered with a disguise.

"This is all the disguise I need," she says, tapping a "small, rod-shaped parcel" in her hand. We ask what it is and she replies, "The only weapon a bard requires -- although I have another one."

[WTF is Dalris talking about? Is this her pole-vaultin' pole, collapsed down to "small, rod-shaped" size, D&D cartoon style? How the heck is that a "disguise"? Also, if the "rod-shaped parcel" is the ONLY weapon a bard needs, why does she have "another one"?]

We trek down the mountain, enter Freeton, reach the docks, turn right, follow a path, and soon see the tower and its vine-covered fence. Thayne warns us to stay away from the fence because the vine is a Yellow Musk Creeper that will turn us into zombies if we get too close.

[The Yellow Musk Creeper is yet another Fiend Folio monster. When you get within 10 feet of it, the plant's flowers puff dust into your face. On a failed save, you walk into the mass of the plant where it attaches "aerial roots" to your skull (no 'to hit' roll required) and drains your INT at 1d4 per round. If you get drained to exactly INT 1 or INT 2 at the end of a round you turn into a Yellow Musk Zombie. If you get drained to INT 0 or below you die and the plant grows a new flower bud.]

Dalris "whispers excitedly" that she could vault over the fence.

[Dalris can fight, steal, cast spells, and play a mean flute, but the thing that most excites the Kandian Princess is handling a long hard pole.]

Thayne tells her not to be an idiot and proceeds to Knock open the Wizard Locked front gate. But he can't enter, because Beldon has set up a Magic Mouth to announce certain unwanted visitors, and Thayne's name is at the top of the list.

[Once again, Beldon is the only one in the book who displays some modicum of advance planning. Magic Mouth keyed to people who might have a reason to sneak in, even though it’s fifteen years later? That’s clever.]

We shrug and leave Thayne to mope around outside while we pass through the gate with Dalris.

From here we can
(146) try the front door,
(230) cast Spider Climb, or
(168) use the pro mountaineering skills that all untrained shepherds acquire.

Which are the same choices we get if we take the College Arcane path to begin with and then meet Dalris on the grounds while resting from our laborious spell-learnin'. So we have come full circle.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Commentary:

Whew! That's all the paths through the book that I am willing to take.

The Thayne-teaches-magic path is neither as fun as the College Arcane path nor as plot coherent… and that's saying something, because the College Arcane path has plenty of plot holes.

I am dying to know what The Story So Far tells us in the next book. Before we get to that, I have one more blast of nostalgia to unleash, and that's the tale of what happened when I DM'd a version of this gamebook as an adventure, played by my younger sister.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

"You're our last hope, Carr!" Perth says, batting his eyelashes and channeling Princess Leia's holographic message.

[You thought Dalris would deliver the famous line, didn't you?]

I did.

Dalris volunteers to help us recognize the sceptre, which we could not otherwise hope to identify [couldn't she, y'know, describe it for us?] and Thayne volunteers to get us past Beldon's "corps of spies in Freeton." [brace-of-lions pirates, J'Accuse!]

1. There have been zero evidence of any spy, or any nefarious activitiy, by Beldon in this book. But they seem to think he's creating a web of evil plots. Maybe they thouught everyone in Seagate was a Beldon spy, so their 15 years-long quest to find Carr was hampered by security protocols like "Talk to noone and approach noone". It might explain why it took so long to recognize him, they litteraly had no other plan than posting Thayne and wait for Carr to fumble into him.

2. Speaking of recognition, can you count the exact number of golden sceptres of various kinds sitting in the underground crypt, and with which we might have mistaken our own golden sceptre of power? Was the number so high that we couldn't have taken them all in a large gunny sack?

Thayne says we'll need a disguise so he gives us his old novice robe that he still has from when he studied under Landor.

[As it turns out, we will encounter no-one at the College Arcane itself on this path, so the disguise is unnecessary. When we reach the vault, Beldon will somehow magically appear, at which time he will recognize us regardless of what clothing we're wearing.]

Or we could knock at the door, sign the enrollment forms, pay the fees with our inextinguishable flow of gold pieces (4 per lucre) and receive accomodation, a brand-new novice robe and probably free stew.

Dalris hasn't bothered with a disguise.

So Beldon will mistake her with a random passer-by he has no reason to fear on his campus.

"This is all the disguise I need," she says, tapping a "small, rod-shaped parcel" in her hand. We ask what it is and she replies, "The only weapon a bard requires -- although I have another one."

[WTF is Dalris talking about? Is this her pole-vaultin' pole, collapsed down to "small, rod-shaped" size, D&D cartoon style? How the heck is that a "disguise"? Also, if the "rod-shaped parcel" is the ONLY weapon a bard needs, why does she have "another one"?]

I must say that I am confused by this quote...

[The Yellow Musk Creeper is yet another Fiend Folio monster. When you get within 10 feet of it, the plant's flowers puff dust into your face. On a failed save, you walk into the mass of the plant where it attaches "aerial roots" to your skull (no 'to hit' roll required) and drains your INT at 1d4 per round. If you get drained to exactly INT 1 or INT 2 at the end of a round you turn into a Yellow Musk Zombie. If you get drained to INT 0 or below you die and the plant grows a new flower bud.]

Are the stats of a Yellow Musk Zombie interesting? Having 1 or 2 INT wouldn't bother fighters.

[Dalris can fight, steal, cast spells, and play a mean flute, but the thing that most excites the Kandian Princess is handling a long hard pole.]

I see what you've done.

Thayne tells her not to be an idiot and proceeds to Knock open the Wizard Locked front gate. But he can't enter, because Beldon has set up a Magic Mouth to announce certain unwanted visitors, and Thayne's name is at the top of the list.

[Once again, Beldon is the only one in the book who displays some modicum of advance planning. Magic Mouth keyed to people who might have a reason to sneak in, even though it’s fifteen years later? That’s clever.]

That doesn't make him evil, just competent. But those are often mixed in books.

We shrug and leave Thayne to mope around outside while we pass through the gate with Dalris.

From here we can
(146) try the front door,
(230) cast Spider Climb, or
(168) use the pro mountaineering skills that all untrained shepherds acquire.

Which are the same choices we get if we take the College Arcane path to begin with and then meet Dalris on the grounds while resting from our laborious spell-learnin'. So we have come full circle.

In this path, can you pinpoint the exact kind of help the presence of Dalris in our team provided? I guessed so.

 

[Joshua Randall]

2. Speaking of recognition, can you count the exact number of golden sceptres of various kinds sitting in the underground crypt, and with which we might have mistaken our own golden sceptre of power?

In the book as written, just the one that the Crypt Thing is holding.

Buuuuuttttt… when Dalris describes the sceptre of power [take a shot] she says that according to legend it is one of a number of wands / staves / guisarme-voulges that the Bhukodian sorcerers used. THE sceptre of power [takeashot] is the only one that’s been recovered.

Where could the rest of those scepters be? How about in the various sarcophagi that are in the same area as the Crypt Thing. It would be a cool scene if Carr entered a ROOM full of sceptres and had to determine which one is the right one, perhaps with Detect Magic, an INT test, or some kind of confusing conversation with the duplicitous skeletal guardian.

I must say that I am confused by this quote...

Upon re-reading, Dalris’s “rod-shaped package” could be her bard flute. Then the “other” weapon that she has could be a figurative weapon, not a literal weapon. Specifically it could be…

her only ornament is a curious neck ring made of gold. Its open ends are capped with identical red stones.

Maybe. I’m completely speculating.

Are the stats of a Yellow Musk Zombie interesting? Having 1 or 2 INT wouldn't bother fighters.

As long as you don’t mind that you spend the rest of your existence near the “parent” Yellow Musk Creeper, forced to serve and to protect it.

That doesn't make him evil, just competent. But those are often mixed in books.

Indeed! It’s often a cliché that the villains are clever and competent (aside from, possibly, one monomaniacal flaw); pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness; demanding of excellence from their underlings. And the good guys win not by out-thinking the villains but by out-righteous-ing them and/or humorous dumb luck if it’s an action comedy.

In this path, can you pinpoint the exact kind of help the presence of Dalris in our team provided? I guessed so.

As you say — nope. Due to the nature of the CYOA format, the challenges have to be main character focused, unless the book can funnel the main character into position alongside the helper NPC.

What’s funny and at this point, not surprising, is that on this path Dalris goes out of her way to state that Carr will need her help to identify the sceptre… and of course there is no payoff for this. There can’t be, because the book has to ensure that only Carr and Rufyl make it to the final confrontation, given that they may have gone directly there before meeting Dalris.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Upon re-reading, Dalris’s “rod-shaped package” could be her bard flute. Then the “other” weapon that she has could be a figurative weapon, not a literal weapon. Specifically it could be…

her only ornament is a curious neck ring made of gold. Its open ends are capped with identical red stones.

Maybe. I’m completely speculating.

Honestly, she's a woman saying she has "another weapon". I am not thinking of her dagger. But maybe it doesn't sound as off in English as it sounds when I translate it in my head...

As long as you don’t mind that you spend the rest of your existence near the “parent” Yellow Musk Creeper, forced to serve and to protect it.

Always read the fine print!

Indeed! It’s often a cliché that the villains are clever and competent (aside from, possibly, one monomaniacal flaw); pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness; demanding of excellence from their underlings. And the good guys win not by out-thinking the villains but by out-righteous-ing them and/or humorous dumb luck if it’s an action comedy.

It starts in cartoon for children. As a kid, I often had empathy for the bad guy who had worked so hard to enact his evil plan (in a children-cartoon, so it's not rape and murder but more "I will steal the colours in order to turn the world in black and white") only to be thwarted by a team of bumbling idiots riding unicorns, episodes after episodes.