Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9575472" data-attributes="member: 7737">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.30We 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).---34Thayne 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.</blockquote>

Verification