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

[Jfdlsjfd]

“Whutt doo yoooo meeeen? The Shhhepter is aweshhhhum!” Thayne slurs. Thayne is on his third mug of Kandian mead and his face is flushed with alcohol.

Love it!

Perth fetches the sceptre from his sacred chapel.

So we don't even get to actually keep the sceptre with us? At least, it would be less obvious if it was kept buried into some anonymous log cabin rather than kept in a display roll of tanned hollyphant hide inside the druid's sacred chapel.

Perth fetches the sceptre from his sacred chapel. It is wrapped in “the tanned hide of a sacred hollyphant,” Perth explains.

Prior to 2023, I would’ve been able to dazzle you all with my deep AD&D knowledge of weird monsters like the hollyphant. However, thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3, everybody knows and loves/hates the hollyphant.

This gives us reason to think that the book was doing an early promoting of the game.

I think they should go the way of the Flumph, so... tanning their hide is something of a good thing to do.

That said, let me get this straight: Perth has the tanned hide of a lawful-good upper planes dwelling mini flying elephant. How? WHY?!

And what did his adoptive daughter think?

As a side note, you didn't mention the most horrific aspect of this creature: it's intelligent. Perth tanned the hide of a good, intelligent creature. So rationalizing that the hide was tanned after its natural death is akin to a necromancer having a spellbook covered in human leather: we wouldn't think more highly of him if he said "but I waited for the person to starve naturally before skinning him".

We explain that we couldn’t translate the hieroglyphs on the shaft until a few months ago when Rufyl casually mentioned that it was Landor who inscribed them on the wand.

If this had happened, I would have ordered Rufyl to disclose any information relevant to my father, including any and all treasure stashes he might know of or useful information he might had, instead of waiting for it to be randomly popping up in the conversation.

Also, WIS 3 Carr can't identify a script and deduce the most basic thing.

It reads, “My trap card only has 30 charges.”
[…]
Dalris gets it: once the charges are used up, anyone — good or evil — will be able to use the Sceptre of Bhukod.
[…]
We don’t have any way to know how many times the sceptre’s protective power had been used before we found it.

Actually, we do. The sceptre was interred in the crypt where nobody could touch it for 15+ years. It is possible someone broke in (there are other spellcasters that could have teleported in, or used another way into the crypt, through another sealed exit instead of just 'porting in) and fondled our rod, but then the Crypt Thing can tell. And Rufyl can ask it about that. So we do have an easy way to know how many time the magic was used.

Also, the way that drunk ranger died is comedy-gold.

OK, fine. I think the implication is that one charge gets used up every time someone touches the sceptre, including Carr. (Note the flare of white light when it was taken out of its dead-LG-flying-elephant-skin bag.) Still, Carr ought to know roughly how many times he’s handled his own sceptre in the last five years.

I don't buy that the defensive magic is used each time the sceptre is used. It would have been quickly spent whenver LANDOR held his shaft firmly into his hand, which is something we know he was doing all the time. It would be a very bad defensive system.

We’re too stunned by the death of our “old friend” to react.

Right now, I am too stunned by his stupidity.

We nod gravely. Dalris has the right of it: once the charges are used up, anyone can touch our staff, even if they’re not our dad or us. And we don’t have any way to know how many times the sceptre’s protective power had been used before we found it. So we shouldn’t be too anxious to use the wand. We should consider another way “to get Arno out of the academy.”

I thought Arno was in Saven, convincing the Archcleric of doing something nefarious?

Again with the “old friend” bit. We’re such good friends with Thayne that we haven’t seen him in five years and when we do, we make fun of his racial characteristics.

Arno’s evil has already spread to Wealwood and taken the life of a friend.

No... Honestly no. We were explaining that with shouldn't wiggle our sceptre willy-nilly in public, and someone didn't listen. This is totallary unrelated to Arno.

As a very harsh after school special lesson about why you shouldn’t drink too much, this scene works. As an illustration of Arno’s evil, it completely fails.

Thanks for an earlier explanation of after-school special! Yeah... "If you drink too much, you might end up with the bulbous end of someone's shaft in your hand and regret it..." This is a fine lesson.

There is, however, there is a subtler lesson to be had about "When meeting someone from an ethnic minority, especially a mixed origin one, making fun of his physical characteristics can hurt them, it's plain wrong and don't do this". It happened so much to Thayne that he tried to drown the misery of his existence, being constantly reminded of his ancestry as a mongrel, half Kandian, half ugly, inferior human, in alcohol, with a deadly result. The strange part is that the insult was delivered by a pureblood... human, not elf. WIS 3 Carr has interiorized the racist discourse about elven superiority soo much.

The books we're reading are tough for elf-lovers. Either they are soul-less, uncreative creature of a deceptive nature, forced to flee the civilized villages because of their irrational fear of bells, or they are blatantly racist in the way of the worst 19th century writers.

Note: Dalris probably also fell for the supremacist elven ploy, since she insists she's an elven princess. While it was OK when she was 6 years old, it's quite worrying at 25, and she still can't explain her beauty except by pertaining to the master race of elves, and not being a ugly human... Sad, so sad. She'll be shocked to discover the truth about her parents.

We’re too stunned by the death of our “old friend” to react. Perth and his servant grab Thayne and rush to Perth’s chapel where there may still be time to “enliven” Thayne if his spirit lingers.

I vote no. We barely knew this guy, and there is absolutely no reason to waste a 1,000 gp diamond on him.

Dalris sobs loudly, so we place our arm around her shoulders. [Aww!]

Why exactly? He'll be resurrected by her adoptive father (and WIS 3 as we are, we'll be covered the expanse by saying lucre 250 times in a row).

we think to ourselves with “terrible anguish.”

I still fail to feel any kind of anguish at this developments, either Thayne's self-blasting or the obvious need of further consolating Dalris by the prospect of demonstrating how deft we are at using our rod.

(85) if we’ve changed our mind and now want to take the sceptre to confront Arno, or
(77) if we still think it would be safer to leave the powerful wand with Perth until we’re sure we need it.

But I guess that the logical result of the demonstration that taking our sceptre out of our pant...ry leads to bad outcome, which is to keep it where it belongs, will lead to a Your Quest Ends Here section, possibly turned into a squirrel by an angry Darlis and then stomped to the death by her for our insensitivity.

 

[Joshua Randall]

So we don't even get to actually keep the sceptre with us?

Well, that's the choice. Do we take the sceptre with us, or do we leave it behind in (what the gamebook strongly implies to be) safety?

This gives us reason to think that the book was doing an early promoting of the game [Baldur's Gate 3].

I would not put it past Larian Studios to have traveled back in time to 1986 to start promoting a game they would release 37 years later.

As a side note, you didn't mention the most horrific aspect of this creature: it's intelligent. Perth tanned the hide of a good, intelligent creature. So rationalizing that the hide was tanned after its natural death is akin to a necromancer having a spellbook covered in human leather:

Fun fact: it is only in relatively recent times that books bounds in human skin became considered icky and gross. There is much debate over how widespread the practice ever was, but apparently "book bound in human skin" was at one point considered no more remarkable than when Jeremy Bentham wanted his body and head preserved after his death, for public display. (And man, do I someday want to go see it, because WTF!)

The podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff have a fun segment in episode 570 where they talk about anthropodermic bibliopegy, which is a super fun phrase to write and to say.

I would have ordered Rufyl to disclose any information relevant to my father, including any and all treasure stashes he might know of or useful information he might had, instead of waiting for it to be randomly popping up in the conversation.

Yes, this is what any normal, sane person would do in any circumstance. But somehow it has become a trope within almost all fiction that supposedly allied characters will keep critical information secret until the last moment "because you never asked."

Also, the way that drunk ranger died is comedy-gold.

To me it has always been comedy tinged with horror. The image of Thayne grabbing the sceptre, a burst of light, and then he's dead with sightless eyes staring upward and his fingers on the table still close to the object of his demise -- that has haunted me for DECADES.

I don't buy that the defensive magic is used each time the sceptre is used. It would have been quickly spent whenver LANDOR held his shaft firmly into his hand,

guffaw

which is something we know he was doing all the time.

chortle

It would be a very bad defensive system.

And thus the perfect defensive system to have been devised by the WIS 3 Delling family.

I thought Arno was in Saven, convincing the Archcleric of doing something nefarious?

When we get to the point in this gamebook at which we have to decide where to go, I'll do a close reading of what we know about Arno's whereabouts and location. You will not be surprised to learn it is both opaque and maddeningly illogical.

"If you drink too much, you might end up with the bulbous end of someone's shaft in your hand and regret it..."

snorts milk out nose

the insult was delivered by a pureblood... human, not elf

Or was it? Stay tuned for an upcoming scene that will call our ancestry into question yet again.

The books we're reading are tough for elf-lovers.

Over the years I have become an elf hater, particularly the twinky AD&D 1st- and 2nd-edition Elf Master Race elves. At this point, the more elves are being cast down and belittled, the happier I am.

I'm a dwarf guy through and through. Dwarves are stoic, hard working, noble, industrious, clever, and honorable.

the prospect of demonstrating how deft we are at using our rod.

belly laugh

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

We've been incredibly mature in the first installment of the series, but the title was inviting teenage-level jokes from the get-go.

Edit: on the character sheet there is a check-box to note down if we have the sceptre. So maybe the gamebook can be completed with the item in the safety of our glade.

 

[Joshua Randall]

We've been incredibly mature

An adverb and adjective that have never been applied to me, ever.

Edit: on the character sheet there is a check-box to note down if we have the sceptre.

Yes, definitely. In normal play the reader would’ve known that from the character creation and game mechanics intro. I deliberately glossed over to get us into the story faster.

So maybe the gamebook can be completed with the item in the safety of our glade.

It can be. As hilarious as it would be for there to be a section just after you start your quest proper that Your Quest Ends Here if you don’t have the sceptre, that’s not what the book is doing. Rather, the presence or absence of the sceptre in Carr’s inventory will add or subtract complications in certain situations. It’ll make more sense once it starts happening.

From my recollection, the path you take in the book doesn’t fundamentally change based on whether you carry the sceptre or not. The first path bifurcation is upcoming when we decide whether to start in Saven or on Seagate — and that decision is independent of “do we have the sceptre on our person”.

 

[Joshua Randall]

103, redux

Arno’s evil has already spread to Wealwood and taken the life of a friend, even though actually Thayne isn’t that good a friend, and this is actually Thayne’s fault for getting super drunk during an important meeting, the grabbing another man’s magic item, we think to ourselves with “terrible anguish.”

(85) if we’ve changed our mind and now want to take the sceptre to confront Arno, or
(77) if we still think it would be safer to leave the powerful wand with Perth until we’re sure we need it.

---

85

Dalris breaks away from our awkward embrace. "Thayne died to protect his people and ours from whatever strange evils your old rival has unleashed. We've got to do something!"

We promise that we will. We pick up the Sceptre of Bhukod, which flares with white energy, then slide it into its hollyphant-hide sheath. We reason that because we don't know exactly what magic Arno has at his disposal, it will be safer to take the sceptre with us in case we need it than to leave it behind.

Dalris asks if we should start "here on the mainland at Saven, or on Seagate at the academy of magic?"

We respond that we're not sure and that we need time to prepare our spells. We suggest that Dalris "pray to that goddess of yours and ask her for some assistance."

Before she departs to inform Rufyl of what happened [because I guess our magical assistant wasn't at this reunion-slash-strategy-session?], she glances at the door to Perth's chapel. We can hear mumbled prayers and smell exotic herbs from the ongoing ritual. Dalris hopes that her father will be able to save Thayne.

We "frown at this evidence of her perpetual druidic optimism", tuck the sceptre in our belt, and go to collect our gear.

We place a checkmark next to the Sceptre of Bhukod on our bookmark-slash-character-sheet and turn to (121).

 

[Joshua Randall]

Commentary:

We pick up the Sceptre of Bhukod, which flares with white energy

If the repeated detail that the sceptre flares with white energy is meant to illustrate one of the charges from Landor's spell that kills non-Dellings who touch our rod, then we are burning through charges like crazy. Just in the past few sections, the sceptre has flared three times:

1. once when Perth brought it to us and we took it out of its good-aligned-extraplanar-flying-elephant-skin sheathe;
2. once when Thayne touched our wand;
3. and now once more when we put it away.

If it is the case that everyone, including Carr, who touches the sceptre uses up a protective charge -- then the safest assumption is that all charges have been used up and the sceptre is no longer protected.

Although I am not sure why this matters. The Sceptre of Bhukod is still a mega-powerful magic item. Are we assuming that anyone who wants it can grab it away from us whenever they want to? If that’s the case, shouldn’t the same assumption apply to every magic item in the gamebook?

“Be careful, Dalris! Without a Trap Card on your pole-vaultin’ pole, ANYONE could take it from you!”

“Watch out, Thayne. Without a Trap Card on your Cloak of Elvenkind, anyone could… Thayne? Thayne? Oh crap, you’re dead. Sorry to bother you.”

---

We reason that because we don't know exactly what magic Arno has at his disposal, it will be safer to take the sceptre with us in case we need it than to leave it behind.

For once, I genuinely agree with WIS 3 Carr. We're going to confront a villain, Arno, who is more powerful than Archcleric Oram's gods; who either convinced Haslum "Caution is my middle name" Lastname to summon a demon or was able to defeat the demon that Haslum had summoned; and who is able to be in two places at once. We definitely need the sceptre with us.

---

We "frown at this evidence of her perpetual druidic optimism"

Huh? There is nothing about druids that should make them optimistic. They're constantly fighting to preserve that True Neutral balance and to defend the natural world from encroaching civilization.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

A short section, but I think each line comes with its load of problems!

Dalris breaks away from our awkward embrace.

So, I read it as "Carr has been trying to bed the only girl in the book (I propose we called her the quantum problem girl, since she's either the age of his mum or her half-sister) for YEARS and is still trying to get tactile with her..." Well, anyway, kudos for Thayne, who outdid himself as a wingman this evening.

"Thayne died to protect his people and ours from whatever strange evils your old rival has unleashed. We've got to do something!"

No, he didn't die to protect his people, he died because he forgot about the safety system we were just discussing. It's like saying someone is a war hero, when he shoots himself playing with a gun after picking up an enrollment flier. During a gun safety meeting.

Also, "his people and ours". So, Thayne, despite being half-elf, isn't from the same people that the half-elven princess Dalris? Alternatively, she is probably refering to the fact that he lives in Seagate. Which is extremely far and that's why we didn't get to see him in 5 years.

We promise that we will.

Because we still will try to bed the pretty girl, so we're OK with any stupid idea.

We pick up the Sceptre of Bhukod, which flares with white energy, then slide it into its hollyphant-hide sheath. We reason that because we don't know exactly what magic Arno has at his disposal, it will be safer to take the sceptre with us in case we need it than to leave it behind.

It will clearly make the fight with Arno easier to bring the Sommerswerd with us. But while I can see the safety of putting it our Korlinium scabbard, I'd still allow its bulbous end to protrude out of the protective device. After all, the spell Landor put on it is a 0-30 charges remaining "I touch you and you die" item. It can be practical in a lot of situation until we can just learn how to recast the Enchant Item spell.

Dalris asks if we should start "here on the mainland at Saven, or on Seagate at the academy of magic?"

This is the only line I have no problem with, since the obvious would be to go where Arno is, and Dumb Drunkard couldn't explain clearly WHERE is our foe. Maybe we should wait for his resurrection to ask him. Resurrection, IIIRC, removes detrimental effects so he shouldn't be inebriated when raised. On the other hand, he's in the care of druid, so he might be reincarnated into an awakened shrub instead.

We respond that we're not sure and that we need time to prepare our spells. We suggest that Dalris "pray to that goddess of yours and ask her for some assistance."

Pick-up advice: try to at least seem interested in her, Carr. After five years, you SHOULD be able to know the goddess your target is praying to.

Before she departs to inform Rufyl of what happened [because I guess our magical assistant wasn't at this reunion-slash-strategy-session?],

And despite being most of the time invisible, and in telepathic link with us, she thinks the most efficient way of informing Rufyl is doing it by herself. What will she do? Explain our plan randomly in empty rooms for a few weeks in the hope he's around?

It confirms the marriage-divorce-shared ownership of the pet deal.

she glances at the door to Perth's chapel. We can hear mumbled prayers and smell exotic herbs

The stew is soon ready! Ow, not that kind of herbs.

from the ongoing ritual. Dalris hopes that her father will be able to save Thayne.

Is there a way to FAIL ressurecting in AD&D? Because if the only way for the spell to fail is if the soul doesn't want to come back, I'd say it's incredibly rude to hope he'll want back if he's currently enjoying eternal bliss, walking in a never-ending alcoholic haze...

We "frown at this evidence of her perpetual druidic optimism", tuck the sceptre in our belt, and go to collect our gear.

Don't dismiss her like that, Carr!

On the way out, I guess I ponder... I really don't know if Druid had means to raise dead in AD&D. Maybe she's optimistic in that she knows that Perth as NO way to revive Thayne as we know him because he isn't cleric, just a delusional druid?

 

[Joshua Randall]

So, I read it as "Carr has been trying to bed the only girl in the book […] for YEARS and is still trying to get tactile with her..."

I mean, duh! Did you see that picture in book 1?

Well, anyway, kudos for Thayne, who outdid himself as a wingman this evening.

It’s very “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

It's like saying someone is a war hero, when he shoots himself playing with a gun after picking up an enrollment flier. During a gun safety meeting.

Hahahahaha! Great analogy.

Also, "his people and ours". So, Thayne, despite being half-elf, isn't from the same people that the half-elven princess Dalris?

It could be interpreted two different ways:

1. (His people) and (ours) are the two different peoples Thayne died to protect.
2. (His people and ours) is one people expressed in a poetic way.

Because we still will try to bed the pretty girl, so we're OK with any stupid idea.

I mean, duh! Have you read the descriptions of Dalris?
(Also, because my reading is ahead of my posting, I say she only gets more desirable as the book goes on.)

he shouldn't be inebriated when raised. On the other hand, he's in the care of druid, so he might be reincarnated into an awakened shrub instead.

Hmm….

The stew is soon ready! Ow, not that kind of herbs.

Zing! Take a shot.

Is there a way to FAIL ressurecting in AD&D?

Brother, this is AD&D. There’s a way to fail to tie your shoes, and if there’s not one on some obscure page of the DMG, I’m sure there is some of Gygax’s advice somewhere that suggests you twist the PCs’ expensive spell so that it blows up in their face.

On the way out, I guess I ponder... I really don't know if Druid had means to raise dead in AD&D.

You called it earlier: druids get reincarnation rather than raise dead / resurrection.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I was unsure about raise dead or a lesser version of resurrection being available to them.

So it's the last time we saw Thayne alive. I understand now why Carr was so certain Dalris' hope was misplaced. Contrary to her -- who has druid levels -- he studied the spell list and know that there is nothing Perth can actually do.

Poor Thayne. Despite the uselessness of his death, we remember him from several of the high points of our relationship across many lives and reality... like the time where he tried to get us intoxicated in a back alley... or that time where he swindled us out of our Pouch of Infinite Wealth, Mass and Energy, or when he destroyed our spellbook out of spite... well, that's basically all, and it's fresh in our mind because those interaction might only have happened 5 years ago.

We'll miss him immensely. It's like being a 2nd year student at the university and learning that a trainee teacher who taught us for two days in the last year of middle school died. We'd be devastated and yearning to be reminded of his or her name...

 

[Joshua Randall]

121

We enter the FREE HUT that was formerly Landor's and now ours and sit down at the same table where our dad "conducted his research into the magic of his ancestors, the sorcerer-kings of Bhukod."

Ever since we acquired Landor's stuff five years ago, we've been translating from his coded scrawls into… our own coded scrawls, apparently, because we are making our own spellbook which is a subset of the spellbooks we inherited from Landor.

We leaf through our spellbook page by page and decide which of the lesser spells to memorize, "because we don't want to take the massive book with [us]."

NOTE: These are the spells listed under BOOK OF LESSER SPELLS on the Character Stats Card.

We then take up our father's cloak with its permanent Deeppockets enchantment and load it up with all the material components we will need. The cloak is a "colorful cape like those worn by traditional Kandian actors" that is covered with "ancient Bhukodian symbols."

"As a final measure of magical power," we locate a loose sheaf of our father's "original" spells. We plan for these to become the first entries in our new spellbook of greater spells, but our translations are incomplete. So instead we can take these pages with us and use them "as if they were magical scrolls" that we have to "read very carefully" rather than memorize.

NOTE: These spells are listed under TRAVELING BOOK OF GREATER SPELLS on the Character Stats Card.

Satisfied with our spell prep, we take up the enchanted staff that Perth made for us as a badge of office. It's a magical bronzewood staff banded with iron that, upon command, will double in length from six feet to twelve feet.

Then we open up a pouch to check on our three poisoned darts. Dalris helped us gather "the blooms of the tri-flower frond" and distill a narcotic which will put anyone to sleep at "the merest scratch" from one of the darts.

We toss everything on top of the cloak, along with a small dagger for good measure, and then fall asleep still trying to decide whether to begin our mission in

(95) Saven or
(137) Seagate Island.

[The rant for this section will be postponed while we delve into the spell mechanics for this book.]