[AD&D Gamebook] The Sorcerer's Crown (Kingdom of Sorcery, book 2 of 3)

[Jfdlsjfd]

We “suddenly” remember that Garn warned us about the strength of our sceptre. “If” he’s correct, then the corrupt “senior paladins” have “somehow” retained their clerical magic and “may” detect the sceptre “if” we encounter more of them.

On the other hand, the 100 paladins in the ritual didn't prove very effective in killing us earlier this night.

We ask Garn to take the hollyphant-hide wrapped parcel to Archdruid Perth. We tell him that we didn’t know him well enough before to be honest, but now that we’ve spent a couple hours with him, we’ll trust him with the knowledge that inside the skin-sheathe of the intelligent lawful good creature we presumably brutally murdered is the bulbous-ended Sceptre of Bhukod. Said sceptre “may” be Tikandia’s only hope to defeat Arno and Pazuzu, and we don’t want to risk it falling into enemy hands if one of the corrupted paladins senses its dweomer.

In a normal WIS world, once the forces of Perth loot the drowned paladins in the marsh, they'll recover the sceptre and conclude that Dalris and Carr must be dead and the paladins took the sceptre from their dead bodies.

Dalris is too impatient for this male bonding ritual. She paces the floor and frets that we’ll be hard pressed to reach the island before daylight.

So, crossing from Saven to Freeton takes only a few hours by boat, including activating Garrrrrn's connection with the marine in the middle of the night and securing the ship. Sail crossing of the English Channel took around 4 hours if the condition (tide, wind...) were good. The Pirate's Alley must be significantly closer so Team Good can hope to be there before daylight despite starting from sitting in the Paladin's living room.

 

[Joshua Randall]

the 100 paladins in the ritual didn't prove very effective in killing us earlier this night.

Two possibilities,

1. They were being polite. They are paladins, after all. Once they saw how badly outnumbered we were, they decided to come at us a few at a time. But they had to agree on the order: ascending or descending by seniority?
2. They were watching Dalris’s, umm, “dance”.

In a normal WIS world, once the forces of Perth loot the drowned paladins in the marsh, they'll recover the sceptre and conclude that Dalris and Carr must be dead and the paladins took the sceptre from their dead bodies.

So the sceptre still ends up back with Perth just as we wanted it to. Perfect!

crossing from Saven to Freeton takes only a few hours by boat […] Sail crossing of the English Channel took around 4 hours

I’m sure we move at the speed of plot and any attempt at accurate geography or calendar will dissolve into sanity-blasting incoherence.

That said, the fact we are in a hurry here is about to become quite bitterly funny.

 

[Joshua Randall]

106

We board the ship at nearly midnight, and the taciturn captain and crew sail us across the straight. It’s not until we can make out the dark outline of Seagate Island on the moonless horizon that the captain asks where we want to land.

(2) if “a marid” told us a tale about a demon named ‘Pazuzeus’;
(80) if we know a tale about a matched pair of crowns; or
(57) to consult with our father’s fellow wizards at College Arcane.

---

Commentary:

(2) if “a marid” told us a tale about a demon named ‘Pazuzeus’…

We gain another tidbit of information about the mysterious part of the book where we learn about ‘Pazuzeus’. Apparently we learn this from “a marid” named “Shanif”.

Marid is another AD&D Monster Manual II monster, the biggest and best of the “genies”. They’re associated with water, have powerful spells, and are capricious (like all D&D genies).

How we get onto the path to Shanif the Marid is a problem for another time. Because for now we have only place we’re allowed to go, and that’s College Arcane.

---

In a montage of sections we have traversed before…

• (57) "Let’s just sail directly into Freeton, caution be damned!"
• (30) Sneak past the gnolls using Charisma.
• (13) Overhear a gnoll brag session.
• (92) Muse about the integrity, honesty, and cooperative nature of academia when we reach College Arcane.

For the record, at section (30) I rolled 5, 5 which whether we use our Charisma 14 or our Dexterity 11 for sneaking, we exceed the required 19. So no additional deaths accrue as we rush through these numbered sections.

The bottom of section (92) instructs us to turn to (45) if we've come directly from Saven, which we have on this path.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

106

We board the ship at nearly midnight, and the taciturn captain and crew sail us across the straight.

So, since we were to rendez-vous two hours after our escape from the cathedral, and we were delayed one hour to find the place (presumably, it's additional time given our encounter with the guards, if not there would be no cause of worry for Dalris who was already lamenting our demise), this means we left the cathedral before 9 pm.

The events within the cathedral were quick, and could have taken place in less than 30 minutes.

Before that, we gave some time to Garrn to hide the sceptre at his place, which is one hour away from the cathedral. Going there and back therefore means we exited the tavern at 18:30.

Inside the tavern, we discussed and met Garrn, let's say half an hour, and had enough time to feed Rufyl two bowls of FREE STEW. There is a chance we entered the inn at 17:30.

At this time, it was already dark enough that the pilgrims were doing their gathering for their nightly ceremony and it was pitch black enough that we couldn't tell a pilgrim for a paladin. That's inordinately early for pitch black evening.

 

[Joshua Randall]

we entered the inn at 17:30.

At this time, it was already dark enough that the pilgrims were doing their gathering for their nightly ceremony and it was pitch black enough that we couldn't tell a pilgrim for a paladin. That's inordinately early for pitch black evening.

Pretty typical winter day where I live. In the dead of winter it starts getting dark around 16:30. And I don't even live that far North, compared to some!

We did comment in book 1 that We must be far north of this world's equator if it is just now dawn, some time after 8:00 AM.

So at least the author is consistent. I think accidentally, because I do not believe for a moment that he had a detailed calendar and daily planner prepared for these books.

 

[Joshua Randall]

45

With our WIS 3, we determine that the best way to find out if Arno’s friends have taken over the college is to barge through the front door.

Dalris warns us to wait; she must have rolled a natural 20 on her Don’t Be A Complete Idiot check (to compensate for her own –5 WIS modifier). She points out that after what we saw in Saven, “it’d be foolish not to expect a trap of some kind. You’ve learned a lot of magic in five years, but so has Arno. Can you check the door for magical traps?”

(126) if we still have Detect Magic on our list;
(140) if not.

---

126

”Display!” we command as we point at the door to the tower. A “fiery” dweomer flares around the “heavy portal” for a few seconds, long enough to show that the door is indeed trapped!

We thank “that Brigit of yours” that Dalris stopped us from being complete idiots. Our only choice is to climb the wall, just as we did five years ago. We “hope” our Spider Climb spell still works. [Umm… why wouldn’t it?]

We tell Rufyl he’ll have to stay behind as a lookout because “those little wings of yours” won’t get him up the tower.

Dalris is already several feet up the tower by the time we take off our shoes, eat the live spider smeared with bitumen, mutter the Elven spell-phrase, and wait for “a sticky substance to ooze out…” [oh dear] “…of the pores on [our] palms and soles.” We put our hands and feet to the sheer rock of the tower and climb like a human arachnid, or one might say, like a spider-man.

We cross off Spider Climb and then make an INT test.
(160) if 22 or more
(203) if less

 

[Joshua Randall]

Commentary:

A “fiery” dweomer flares around the “heavy portal” for a few seconds, long enough to show that the door is indeed trapped!

Once again the gamebook version of Detect Magic functions nothing like the AD&D version.

1e DMG p. 44:

Detect Magic: This spell detects the intensity of the magic (dim, faint, moderate, strong, very strong, intense) and there is a 10% chance per level of the caster that the type (abjuration, alteration, etc.) can be found as well….

Naturally, this being Gygax writing, there is no clear definition here of the meanings of the words dim, faint, moderate, strong, very strong, intense. I believe that somewhere else in the DMG those words are tied to spell levels, but I'll be damned if I am going to peruse the entire book to find out if I'm right.

We know from one of our previous paths that the door is protected with Fire Trap, a 4th level magic-user spell that is Evocation for some reason. (It should be Abjuration.) If Carr's player is very clever, that player would be able to determine that Strong Evocation magic (assuming Strong = 4th level?) emanating from a door could only be Fire Trap, because the other Evocation spells at that level don't make sense to be cast on a door. (Namely: Dig, Fire Shield, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice.)

Still, one thing Detect Magic does not do is cause the object to glow an appropriate color for your convenience.

We tell Rufyl he’ll have to stay behind as a lookout because “those little wings of yours” won’t get him up the tower.

Poor Rufyl! He’s not allowed to fly because the book says so, even though pseudodragons have a fly speed listed. It's no more unrealistic for cute widdle mini-dwagon wings to function than it is for ugly big maxi-dragons wings to function.

We cross off Spider Climb and then make an INT test.
(160) if 22 or more
(203) if less

In book 1, the difficulty of the Spider Climb check for this same tower was only 21. Either the tower has become more sheer and slippery in the intervening years, or this is one of those scaling difficulties that adjusts with our character level.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Pretty typical winter day where I live. In the dead of winter it starts getting dark around 16:30. And I don't even live that far North, compared to some!

We did comment in book 1 that We must be far north of this world's equator if it is just now dawn, some time after 8:00 AM.

So at least the author is consistent. I think accidentally, because I do not believe for a moment that he had a detailed calendar and daily planner prepared for these books.

I am now tempted to re-check all the quotes of this book to get hints that we are not in the dead of winter in a quite northern area, most notably with mention of the climate not matching. ;-) Why is Dalris not wearing a fur cap?

 

[Joshua Randall]

It is weird that after the first book, which emphasizes the natural surroundings and climate, we get none of that in this book. Does the lack of mention mean anything? Do we assume this is a northern area like upper Canada where it's cold and has short days for 6 months out of the year and that's just how it is and is therefor not worth mentioning? Or do we assume it's a regular-ish climate like where I live, but it's not dead of winter, it's summer and the sunrise/sunset don't make any sense? Or maybe they do make sense but the size of Pirates' Alley doesn't make sense? Or maybe everything changes based on the needs of the plot?

(Seriously: it's gotta be the last one. I am sure Morris Simon was not writing for future nit-pickers of his climate, terrain, body of water sizes, and sunrise/sunset times. Normally I would let this stuff go, but it's so much more fun to rant about it instead!)

 

[Joshua Randall]

We roll 2, 1 which is a terrible roll on 2d6. Fortunately, OUR Carr Delling has INT 19 so we eke out a success against our deadly foe, the tower.

---

160

”The Spider Climb spell works this time just as well now as it did when you first learned it five years ago.” We surge past Dalris, reach the battlements, put our shoes back on, and reach out a hand to help Dalris up the last few feet.

Dalris comments that we’d make a good thief.

We reply, ”You’re not so bad on a stone wall yourself! How sharp is your sense of nonmagical trap detection?”

Dalris examines the wooden trap door, her “expert fingers” exploring every crack and crevice. She pronounces it not trapped but magically locked.

We focus our concentration on the trap door, feel our dweomer “mount” inside us until we’re about to burst [oh dear], then unleash the Knock spell with a cry of “Nutush!”

Spent, we turn to (171).