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

[Jfdlsjfd]

Another possibility.

Beldon isn't evil. Thayne courted Marla, who dumped him for the Magic Teacher. That's why he ratted him to the Archpriest. Beldon left the school because it was closed by the authorities, pending an investigation where our father was found guilty thanks to the false proofs provided by Thayne.

He knows he won't buy our friendship saying Mum was not nice, but he could send us to get the sceptre of power and bring him back to him so he can show how to use it as he did with the pouch, and teleport away with it.

Gaah, no, that's RPG-player-think, not Carr-think.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Absolutely love the idea that Beldon blackmailed Landor into keeping him on after Landor started sleeping with a much younger woman, Marla (Beldon's sister). We can assume Marla wasn't also a student (or Thayne would've mentioned it / Carr would've know it), so Marla could've been a serving girl / worker / deliverer of fresh goat cheese / cute girl in the bazaar helping to run press-gang operations. Landor saw her, lusted after her, and, well, birds and bees stuff happened.

Obviously such a plot would be in no way appropriate for a gamebook with a target audience of young readers. But it's still a great plot.

---

I also love the idea that Carr takes about one day to amass a large sum of gold (but not world-drowning-ly large) then hires a giant army to take over the area. Of course, Carr would need some protection from the greedy mercenaries he's hiring so they don't simply kill him and take all his gold and/or torture the command word out of him.

Clearly this is why Carr needs to learn magic. Once he's powerful enough not to fear greedy mercenaries, he can use gold to hire greedy mercenaries, to do what he could've done with magic alone, which is take over the world.

This plan is well thought out and simple, as befits my WIS 3.

I mean, Carr's WIS 3.

---

Some of the plot holes and other nonsense will be covered later in the book / series. Kingdom of Sorcery has a surprisingly complex and deep backstory for what could have been a throwaway gamebook. But I do like to make fun of it in the moment.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

It makes the reading fun and interesting. Also, those are legitimate questions. If the truth is told later, that's great writing, but right now we can be a little puzzled.

Like I am very curious about the relationship between Marla and Beldon. Once Landor is dead, was the archcleric really wanted all his family dead? and not his students?

 

[Joshua Randall]

159

The word Bhukod sends us [Carr, that is] into a reverie. We know that it was a kingdom of super powerful elven sorcerers (of course) who flourished throughout Tikandia up until five hundred years ago.

Thayne tells us that Landor's greatest spells were learned from undead elven wizards "within the walls of ancient Bhukod." (Cool but creepy.)

We want to know what proof there is that Landor ever actually found Bhukod. Thayne responds that he saw the Sceptre of Power with his own eyes and that's proof enough for him. [Ding! Take another shot each time the book title is mentioned.]

As Thayne tells it, the sceptre is so powerful that Tikandian rulers have sought it for centuries. Its power is why Beldon wanted it and why Archcleric Oram sent his "corrupt paladins" after our father two years ago. [Are they paladins or fighters? These words mean something specific in AD&D.]

We want to learn more about our father's discoveries. Thayne explains that we could not hope to understand such occult matters without learning magic. He presents us with the most impactful plot choice of the book.

(109) We can go with Thayne to his camp where he will "endeavor" to teach us what he knows.
(217) Or we can resume our search for Beldon and learn "the 'truth'" (as Thayne puts it) from Beldon.

[scare quotes around the word 'truth' are in the original text]

 

[Joshua Randall]

[The choice between learning from Thayne and learning from Beldon has MAJOR ramifications on how the middle part of the book plays out. In my judgment, the Beldon path is a little more fun and leads to a more coherent plot, long-term.]

217

We listen to the boisterous sounds of the bazaar just outside the cul-de-sac. While Thayne has told us much of interest regarding our father, we're sure he is holding back some information. We also still feel a familial connection to Beldon: we need to tell him of Marla's death.

Plus who wants to learn magic from someone who will only "endeavor" to teach us? Express more confidence in your abilities, Thayne!

We tell Thayne our decision. He once again warns us of Beldon's evil, cryptically tells us not to enter Beldon's house, asks us not to mention that we met (because Beldon and Thayne hate each other), and gives us vague directions to Beldon's magic academy -- the large stone tower at the end of the market avenue.

"Follow the fence. Though it may seem to lead away from the college, you must never touch what guards it," Thayne pronounces.

"Touch what?" we ask. But Thayne has raised the hood of his (presumed) Cloak of Elvenkind and vanished without a trace.

Turn to (68).

---

68

After about 30 minutes of wandering the bazaar, this time without any press gang attacks, we spot the tower that Thayne described. It is a black-grey stone battlement that is part of Freeton's ancient seawall. The old tower stands between two newer buildings of whitewashed baked clay.

Surrounding the tower is a rusty fence covered in ivy dotted with yellow and purple flowers.

There's no visible gate into the tower and the buildings on either side are "abandoned ruins".

[Huh? Why are the two "newer" buildings that have been "whitewashed" (which lasts about 20-30 years, presumably less in a seaside shantytown) the "abandoned ruins", while the tower built into the "ancient" seawall is NOT described as "ruins"?]

We are presented with three options:

(126) Follow the fence until we reach a gate;
(97) Stay away from the fence as Thayne warned us; or
(144) Climb the fence.

[No, you are not crazy: in the previous section (217), Thayne's EXACT words were, "Follow the fence". Now in this section we are asked to distinguish between "Follow the fence" vs. "stay away from it", the latter being the one marked as what Thayne advised. Except Thayne didn't say "stay away"; he said "follow", and "never touch what guards it". (Doubly vague! Yay?). So if we want to heed Thayne's advice, what do we choose?]

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Honestly, givent Thayne's ability to give clear instructions, I think you made the right choice selecting Beldon as a professor. Thayne would have a very bad teaching assistant.

-- And now, here is how you cast fireball.
Student burns to death
-- Also, did I mention that you need to point your finger at the target? Oh, apparently not. At least we collected his registration fees for Advanced Magic.

 

[Joshua Randall]

126

[We'll go with first-in, first-out regarding the two mutually exclusive pieces of Thayne's advice: we'll follow the fence. Readers should be unsurprised to know that "climb the fence" leads to death.]

We follow the vine-covered fence until we reach the front of the academy where it faces the ocean. Thayne's cryptic comments about "never touch what guards it" makes us keep our distance from the yellow and purple flowers.

Beyond the fence we see well kept lawns and gardens. But the only signs of habitation are two thin wisps of smoke that emerge from chimneys on the academy's wings. (That is, from the newer, whitewashed buildings.)

We finally reach an ornate gate in the fence. Beside the gate is a badly corroded sign, partially written in a script we cannot read [Language matters!] and partially written in the Common tongue.

COLLEGE OF ARCANE SCIENCES
FOUNDED IN 784 C.E.
BY LANDOR, ARCHMAGUS OF SAVEN

Excitement fills us as we enter the academy that our father founded "more than forty years ago."

Turn to (138)

 

[Joshua Randall]

An attempt at a timeline.

• a long time ago: the Kingdom of Bhukod flourishes throughout Tikandia
• ~500 years ago: Bhukod falls, for unknown reasons
• ~200 years ago: Tikandian rulers begin searching for the Sceptre of Bhukod
• "more than" 40 years ago: Landor founds the "College of Arcane Sciences", also known as "the academy"
• ??? years ago: Landor meets Thayne and takes him on as a student
• ??? years ago: Landor meets and marries Marla; takes Beldon on as a student
• ??? years ago: Landor finds the Sceptre of Bhukod
• ??? years ago: Thayne departs the academy
• ~15 years ago: Carr is born to Landor and Marla
• ~15 years ago: Landor is pursued by Archcleric Oram's goons
• ~15 years ago: Landor dies, "shortly after" Carr is born
• 2 years ago: Carr and Marla escape from Saven (on the mainland) to Seagate Island
• one week plus 5 days ago: Marla gets sick
• one week ago: the gamebook begins
• today: Carr reaches "the academy" gate

Let's focus on the items including and between ~40 years ago and ~15 year ago parts. (Or however old you think Carr should be: he could be 12, or 15, or 17, and it doesn't fundamentally change anything.)

How old was Landor when he founded the academy? Let's say at the youngest he could've been about 20 -- clearly he was a prodigy, but even prodigies need time to amass funding (from where?) and so forth.

For about 25 years, up until Carr's birth, Landor was doing his thing at the academy. Teaching students. Paying taxes. Avoiding press gangs. Debating policy with other faculty members.

This means Landor was about 45 years old when Carr was born! Thus Marla was probably considerably younger given that D&D-land didn't have advanced medicine to allow 45-year-old women to have babies safely. This lends credence to the May-December romance we postulated earlier.

We could say for sake of argument that Marla was 18 when she and Landor got together (to keep their relationship legal in most states) and close to 19 when Carr was born. That means that if we stick to Carr as 15 years old, Marla was about 34 when the book started.

Or, who knows? She could've been 44 when she married Landor and 45 when Carr was born -- the same age as Landor. (Maybe clerical magic allows older women to give birth safely?) And then Marla would've been 60 when the book started. Which might explain why her illness finished her off. Although a severe illness to someone malnourished and living in a cold shack for the last two years could kill anyone.

Back to the timeline.

Prior to Carr's birth (else Thayne would have known for sure that Carr existed rather than needed to peer at Carr's facial features), Landor also discovered the Sceptre of Bhukod, showed it to Thayne, which triggered Beldon's jealousy, which caused the falling out between Thayne and Beldon, which caused Thayne to depart the academy. All of that happened before Carr was born, roughly in the order listed above, so that cause-and-effect makes sense.

That is A LOT of backstory!

Note also the gap between Carr's birth / Landor's death roughly 15 years ago and Marla's / Carr's flight from the mainland to Seagate Island roughly 2 years ago. What was Archcleric Oram doing in the intervening years? Oram gave up on the Sceptre of Bhukod even though Landor's widow was still in Saven where Oram also resides?

What was Beldon doing all this time?

What does Carr remember from his childhood?

---

One final question: why did Landor, "Archmagus of Saven", found his academy not in Saven, but in the pirate-infested Freeton across the water?

 

[Joshua Randall]

138

We see no-one else as we approach the tower, traversing a long path. We notice rows of frosted-over windows set high in the walls of the whitewashed buildings on either side. The tower itself is built from blocks of basalt "as if the ancient citadel had grown like an immense volcanic tree from the very bedrock of Seagate Island." (How poetic!)

The doors are massive brass portals with iron knockers. [Cue Young Frankenstein joke.] We have barely touched them when they swing open of their own accord and we hear a man's voice tell us to make ourselves comfortable in the college our father built and that he (the voice) will be with us as soon as he changes clothes.

We assume the voice is Beldon's, although we were too young the last time we saw him to remember. And we briefly wonder how he knew it was us, but we suppose we'd better get used to such things "or [we] won't last long" in the College of Arcane Sciences.

Turn to (222)

---

222

The entrance hall features a bronze statue of our father (cool, but egotistical) with "finely chiseled features, penetrating eyes, gaunt cheekbones, [and] high forehead".

We hear the same voice from before state that our father was an impressive man, and finally we spot Beldon on the stairs behind the statue. Beldon says he's been waiting for us ever since he learned of our mother's death, that he knew we'd come to Freeton, and that this is our home now.

We grandly pronounce that we have come to follow our father's studies, find our legacy, and discover his killer, even if it takes a lifetime. At this pronouncement, we notice Beldon's eyes take on a sharpness that contrasts his previous "misty, heavy-lidded" quality. He warns that the path to such knowledge will be difficult and dangerous. We are not deterred. (Of course.)

Beldon says that our training can begin tomorrow and that for now, wouldn't we like to eat? You bet we would! He leads us up the stairs to a dining hall where we see several dozen students in robes of colors ranging from black to blue to red. Those wearing similar colored robes sit together.

We intuit that the colors of the robes indicate different ranks. Beldon explains that "we begin in darkness and proceed to light", so those in black robes are novices, while those in progressively lighter robes are more senior. Even Beldon's robe is not entirely white, but pale yellow. "I must learn many things before I earn the colorless robes of an archmage," Beldon says.

[What Beldon means is that the colors of robes proceed through the visible spectrum from the violet-side to the red-side, and then towards white. However… yellow is less on the red side of the spectrum than, umm, red. So if Beldon's robe is "pale yellow", does that mean Beldon is outranked by some of his red-robed students? If anything, Beldon's robe should be "pale red", otherwise known as "pink"!]

We ask Beldon if we should sit with the black-robed novices. Beldon grins at us and walks away, leaving the decision to us.

(238) black robes
(36) blue robes
(99) red robes

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Let's focus on the items including and between ~40 years ago and ~15 year ago parts. (Or however old you think Carr should be: he could be 12, or 15, or 17, and it doesn't fundamentally change anything.)

Let's be on the lookout for hints. He recently tried to fight a seasoned sailor/pirate with a cutlass. The crowd said that we look dangerous. I wouldn't say that of a 12 years old. The confrontation with the former owner of our cutlass felt like a group of elder teen doing a bravado act. I'd lean more toward 17 years-old.

For about 25 years, up until Carr's birth, Landor was doing his thing at the academy. Teaching students. Paying taxes. Avoiding press gangs. Debating policy with other faculty members.

This means Landor was about 45 years old when Carr was born! Thus Marla was probably considerably younger given that D&D-land didn't have advanced medicine to allow 45-year-old women to have babies safely. This lends credence to the May-December romance we postulated earlier.

Yay!

We could say for sake of argument that Marla was 18 when she and Landor got together (to keep their relationship legal in most states) and close to 19 when Carr was born. That means that if we stick to Carr as 15 years old, Marla was about 34 when the book started.

But, Marla cast a spell. If she was 18 when she met Landor and, well, got pregnant quickly, when did she had time to study sorcery? I don't think she practiced a lot in her shepherd's hut while nursing Carr. I think it confirms she was a 1st year student, and 18 to conform to current morality. If later, the Fear spell is described as being very advanced, it will give credence to an older Marla scenario.

Or, who knows? She could've been 44 when she married Landor and 45 when Carr was born -- the same age as Landor. (Maybe clerical magic allows older women to give birth safely?) And then Marla would've been 60 when the book started. Which might explain why her illness finished her off. Although a severe illness to someone malnourished and living in a cold shack for the last two years could kill anyone.

Honestly, as you summarized the situation, I felt something was off with this illness. She was great 5 days ago, got a cold, became catatonic and died in the space of 5 days? I know there are illnesses out there that can do that in real life, but I suspected poisoning (especially given the warm welcome from her cousin...)

If she was 44, in a medieval society, I suspected she'd have been married much earlier and we'd have half-brothers and sister from an earlier wedding. I'm sticking to my hypothesis so far.

There is still the problem with Ulrik. It's Marla's cousin. He's our age I surmise. I can only explain that if Marla was the youngest daugther and Ulrik's parent were the eldest.

Prior to Carr's birth (else Thayne would have known for sure that Carr existed rather than needed to peer at Carr's facial features), Landor also discovered the Sceptre of Bhukod, showed it to Thayne, which triggered Beldon's jealousy, which caused the falling out between Thayne and Beldon, which caused Thayne to depart the academy. All of that happened before Carr was born, roughly in the order listed above, so that cause-and-effect makes sense.

That is A LOT of backstory!

Note also the gap between Carr's birth / Landor's death roughly 15 years ago and Marla's / Carr's flight from the mainland to Seagate Island roughly 2 years ago. What was Archcleric Oram doing in the intervening years? Oram gave up on the Sceptre of Bhukod even though Landor's widow was still in Saven where Oram also resides?

Are we certain we fled 2 years ago? Not around the time of Landor's death? Because, Saven doesn't seem to be a huge megalopolis. Thayne is living there. Mum lived there for 13-15 years, raised a son, and... (1) we don't know the whereaboutu of Saven despite having grown up there (2) Thayne or Beldon could have attempted to make contact before.

I'd say we were on the lam ever since Landor's death.

What was Beldon doing all this time?

What does Carr remember from his childhood?

Obviously nothing about the Academy building...

---

One final question: why did Landor, "Archmagus of Saven", found his academy not in Saven, but in the pirate-infested Freeton across the water?

Oh, I mixed Saven and Freeton.