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

[Joshua Randall]

75

We finish chowing down our FREE STEW just as Arno re-appears and leads us into the novice's wing; the adepts (Red Robes) are housed in the other wing.

Arno leads us down a hallway with identical doors every ten feet or so. (For easy graph paper mapping, naturally.) Each doorway is marked with runic characters "resembling some [we've] seen in one of the books [our] mother had in Saven."

[Aha! So Marla DID study magic.]

We can't read the runes, but we guess they are the names of the novice assigned to each room. Arno stops at a room where the nameplate is only a blackened streak covering whatever was previously written there.

Arno sneers and says the room's former occupant is no longer at the academy, and might no longer be on this plane of existence, after he stole a scroll of Dimension Door from one of the adepts. The only thing they found was one of his sandals and the empty scroll case. That's what comes of meddling in magic beyond your comprehension, Arno warns.

He opens the door and shows us the room: much like a monk's cell, it has the basics and nothing more. Arno advises us to change out of our filthy rags and into the black robes that are provided. Oh, and we should leave all our possessions outside the door because it is forbidden for novices to own anything from outside the academy.

With that, Arno departs, reminding us that Beldon wants to see us first thing after breakfast the next day.

We change out of our ratty clothes into the black garments which are festooned with many pockets and hidden pouches. [For material components, although we don't know this yet.]

We are about to put "all" of our belongings outside the room but then we wonder:

(95) to hide our magic money pouch, or
(124) to be a strict rule-follower.

--

95

Seriously, book? We have established that the money pouch is the only physical possession we have from our dead father as well as an immensely powerful magic item. We may be dumb but we're not stupid.

Besides, Beldon mentioned no such rule. We suspect Arno hopes to trick us out of our possessions. Well, let him have the filthy rags. We hide the money pouch behind some loose plaster that we hold in place with shavings of soap from our wash basin.

We resist the urge to tap the side of our temple in glee at our own cleverness, and turn to (137).

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

What did you do with our dear Cutlass?

 

[Joshua Randall]

What did you do with our dear Cutlass?

The cutlass is a troublesome object in this gamebook because it is possible to get past Ulrik another way that does not involve ~~stealing~~ long-term borrowing his sword.

In some places the book assumes you have the cutlass. For example, at 220 when we fight the "brace of lions" pirates in the bazaar & 35 if we actually roll well to attack:

"Look at the beggar with the sword!" [shouts someone in the crowd] (220)

You rush him, hacking at his face and chest... Your moves may be clumsier than a professional swordsman.... (35)

In other places the book completely ignores that such an object ever existed. From 75 when Arno tells us to discard all of our belongings & 124 if we actually do:

You look at the pile of your meager belongings on the floor. (75) [could arguably include a sword, but seems like that should've been called out]

You place all of your personal belongings in the darkened hallway with the pouch on top of the pile.... (124) [same comment as above]

We will definitively not have the cutlass later in the book when we -- but I've said too much already.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Then we'll be able to snarkily comment on our missing cutlass, whom we traded our mother for. That's great!

I love the idea that to add insult to injury, when you choose to drop your inventory, you put the most magical item of the universe right on top of the pile for easy picking by a passer-by. I don't know yet the power of the sceptre of Bukhod, but I am not convinced it can be more world-disturbing than the ability to create 4 gp per second at will.

 

[Joshua Randall]

On that perfect segue....

137

We're dreaming of a pounding on our door but as we blearily open our eyes we realize we have overslept. Arno calls through the door that novices were supposed to eat at six o'clock. It's now ten 'til eight and we are to be in Beldon's office at that time.

[In fairness to Arno, not sure how it is his responsibility to get us up for breakfast. At least he woke us up in time for our meeting! He could've left us sleeping to REALLY embarrass us.]

We don our black robes, rush to the dining hall, and join a table of fellow black robed novices. One of them mutters something in "a Tikandian dialect" that we don't understand [language matters!] even though they had been conversing in the Common tongue previously. The other novices all get up and leave us sitting alone.

A servant brings us breakfast and just as we're about to dig in, we hear Beldon's voice behind us. He comments that the other notices fear Arno too much to befriend us and that we've made a powerful enemy. No kidding!

Arno is jealous of our relationship with Beldon, and "sorcery and jealousy are often opposite sides of the same coin" as our uncle puts it. [Ironic callback alert!]

We say that we don't want any trouble and we're just here to follow the rules and learn magic. On that topic we already discarded our belongings as instructed.

Beldon's amused eyes tell us we have been tricked by Arno: there is no such rule.

If we hid our father's magic money pouch, our Intelligence "seems to be working satisfactorily". If we gave it up, we're not as bright as we thought and we must deduct 1 from our INT score.

Fortunately we retained both our money pouch and our INT.

Turn to (166).

 

[Joshua Randall]

166

Beldon says that he sees we begin to understand the "dubious camaraderie among your fellow magic-users".

[Love both the twenty dollar word "camaraderie", which 13-year-old Joshua delighted in adding to his vocabulary, as well as the old school term "magic-user" as an in-world concept!]

We get red in the face and promise that Arno will pay --

"Enough!" Beldon cuts us off. "You'll respect those who have earned it," like senior novice Arno who is Beldon's most diligent student. Besides, Arno would be a dangerous enemy: he has already learned several second-level spells "and at least a score of beginning incantations."

[Given the rolls needed to learn spells in AD&D, not to mention the time and costs to scribe them, "a score" is an absolutely staggering number of spells for a student to know.]

We state that we need to start right away in order to catch up to Arno. When can we begin?

Beldon explains that if we start at the most basic levels, it will take us years to reach where Arno is now. However, we could instead begin our studies at a more advanced level, a chance that Beldon offers us "as the son of our founder."

We ask what we'd need to do. Beldon explains that after an interview with him and the adepts (Red Robes) "to assess and guide your interests in sorcery", we'd be given a list of the available classes so we can pick which spells to study.

As Beldon puts it, the only thing we'd miss by not starting at the bottom are "some minor cantrips" which we can learn in "less than a month without instructions."

Beldon has asked us to reconsider:
(193) start as a total novice, or
(221) skip to the more advanced classes.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Commentary:

I suspect we get the same choice as before (basic vs. advanced) so that no matter which path we took to get to this point, the gamebook knows where to point us. The gamebook doesn't "remember" what we did in previous sections, and this way the book doesn't need two entirely different scenes with Beldon at breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast: why are there still some black robed novices eating at ten 'til eight if novices eat at six o'clock?

Also why did we get dressed and then go to the dining hall instead of directly to Beldon's office? Like Chewbacca, do we always think with our stomach?

---

As for that choice between starting at the bottom vs. skipping to the advanced classes: some of the cantrips ARE hilarious (Hairy in particular), plus we might get to EX-TER-MIN-ATE something, but I'm going to stay with Carr's original choice to skip the cantrips.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

We get red in the face and promise that Arno will pay --

Of course. That charisma score isn't going to improve without putting effort!

We state that we need to start right away in order to catch up to Arno. When can we begin?

I'd say "by getting up in time". But that would be naughty. Though I wonder how they did in the real middle ages to know when it was time to get up before getting alarm clocks. You could tell the time with the church bells, but that doesn't help to wake up.

In this case, I think Arno would have been held responsible if we hadn't been in Beldon's office at 8 o'clock. On the other hand, he waited for the last minute so we skip the world-famous Academic Brunch that takes two full hours to consume, given the presence of other novices at breakfast.

Also, I would have run to the office. Skipping breakfast can be explained (sorry guys, I wasn't aware we get free stew in the morning) but showing up nearly 2 hours late is visible to the rest of the student and isn't good for our public image.
I guess we're WIS 3, so Carr's behaviour is understandable.

Also, since you mentionned having the idea of being in a wizard school long before Harry Potter, I am now reminded of very old text adventure game called Spellcasting 101, 201 and 301. The premise was that the hero was harassed by an abusive foster father who forces him to live in an attic until he's welcome to the prestigious sorcerers university. It was quite comedic.

 

[Joshua Randall]

221

We "suppose" we could pass up the cantrips for now, so Beldon invites us to his study to begin the interview process immediately. He needs to advise the other masters of the college as to our reasons for studying magic.

Beldon leads us into the other wing of the college where the adepts have their rooms. Instead of plain nameplates, these doors have arcane symbols, some of which glow with power. (Cool!)

Beldon, the "Grand Master", ushers us into his office which is stacked floor to ceiling with shelves crammed with books and scrolls.

"I know that you sought me after my sister's death," Beldon begins. "That apparently has nothing to do with your wish to become a sorcerer, though. Tell me why you wish to master the occult sciences."

We lean back in our chair to gather our thoughts. We remember what Thayne told us regarding the Sceptre of Bhukod and our father's spellbooks. But Thayne also told us to say nothing about him to Beldon.

(210) Should we tell Beldon the truth? That we're here because of what Thayne told us.
(81) Or do we say nothing about the "fifteen-year-old trail of Landor's murderer" and the "hidden treasures" that brought us here.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Commentary:

Bam, Carr is 15 years old, confirmed.

---

Beldon is the "Grand Master", then there is a layer of "other masters" below him, then the "adepts" (the Red Robes), then the intermediate students (Blue Robes), then the "novices" (Black Robes), and several references to "servants".

I assume this hierarchy matches some Old World type of school setup and/or something mimicked at a fancy American boarding school. Such nuances were outside my realm of knowledge in 1986 and still mostly opaque to me in 2025.

---

As to Beldon's assertion that his sister's death has "nothing to do" with Carr's wish to become a sorcerer -- err, what? Carr came here to tell Beldon that Marla died AND to study magic. Those two things are intimately connected. With his mother dead, Carr has no place else to go. What would Carr do with his life if not turn to the one living relative who does not immediately attempt to murder him?