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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9620779" data-attributes="member: 7737">Commentary:We respond that more magical knowledge is just what the doctor ordered, because “if Thayne’s description of what’s happening on Seagate Island was accurate, [we’re] not powerful enough to face Arno.”Here we go again. Thayne did not "describe" what "is happening" on Seagate Island. Instead he brought us information that's A YEAR OLD: Haslum used a scroll of Gate to summon a demon (for some inexplicable reason), then disappeared, after which Arno took over the College Arcane.Thayne DID tell us about the paladins leaving their posts in the marshes… of Tikanida. NOT Seagate Island.Once again, the gamebook author seems confused about what happened, where it happened, and who did it. Lending credence to our belief that this book suffered through a plot rewrite.We ask our burning question: “What was [our] father’s greatest secret?”“Aha! Greed triumphs over virtue once more!” Shanif replies.This isn't greed. It's curiosity. Greed would be if we asked something like "Where can I find more treasure?"“The desolation you see around you was wrought by the same tarrasque that destroyed the Bhukodian Empire.”Wiggity wiggity WHUT?!Raise your hand if you predicted The Tarrasque would show up in this series. I sure didn't!The Tarrasque is one of D&D’s distinctive monsters, based loosely on <a href="https://folklore-society.com/resources/tarasque/" target="_blank">French mythology</a>.The monster's name should be spelled with only one 'R', but D&D doubled the letter for some reason.The D&D version was introduced in Monster Manual II (which I begin to wonder: was this the only monster book that Morris Simon owned?) as a singular, unique monster. Thus it is confusing that when Carr remembers what he read he uses the plural words "monsters" and "saurians".In the MM2 writeup (page 117), we find the source for the repeated insistence that this wet swamp is somehow also a barren wasteland:The legendary tarrasque is possibly the most dreaded monster of alI, for when it is active it ravishes the countryside for miles. All vegetation and animal life is devoured or driven away. The land through which the monster passes becomes a barren waste which requires years to recover.It still doesn't make any sense that the ravaged countryside would end up as a wetland.Lasty, I'll point out that Tarrasque is yet another key name with an 'arrrrr' sound in it.… they used their combined sorcery to cast a permanent Imprisonment spell.Imprisonment is a 9th level magic-user spell that causes the victim to become "entombed in a state of suspended animation (cf. temporal stasis) in a small sphere far below the surface of the earth."Permanently.Well, permanently until the reverse of the spell (Freedom) is cast. But you have to know the creature's "name and background" and if you don't get them "perfectly", then there's a 10% chance that you'll accidentally free 1d100 other creatures. Which implies there are a lot of high level magic-users running around Imprisoning things.… this is Landor’s greatest secret: Landor discovered another way into the tomb of the tarrasque…… "It is here that the greatest magical treasure of all awaits Landor’s successor.”Someone took the word "entomb" in the Imprisonment spell description too literally. Imprisonment (the spell) doesn't construct a pharaoh-style elaborate architectural feature for the victim. The spell metaphorically entombs the victim somewhere down in the bedrock. Not somewhere you can get to from the surface, else the Duration: Permanent wouldn't apply, and you wouldn't need to reverse a 9th-level spell to free the Imprisoned creature.But let's accept that in gamebook-world, this particular Tarrasque is imprisoned in a literal tomb. A tomb that has an entrance. An entrance that Shanif is guarding. Where that might be, we don't know, given that we are in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the entrance is disguised or just out of sight in the thick sulfuric fog.Landor discovered another way into the tomb. Whether that was another physical entrance, a magic portal, teleportation coordinate, or polymorphing into a burrowing creature -- we don't know. But we don't need to know. The mere knowledge that a tomb exists, has a Tarrasque in it, and contains "the greatest magical treasure of all" is enough for us to begin a search. But do we do that after this section?Of course not.… what are “the twin crowns of Lolth and Aerdrie”?What, indeed! I bet you wish we had asked a different question. Good thing I'm cheating, and we will.---Based on all these sections, Shanif clearly met Landor when Landor and Rufyl traveled to the Yellow Marsh 20+ years ago. But did Rufyl ever mention this vitally important trip? No, he did not. Not even after we proposed going to Yellow Marsh in the discussion about the best route to Saven.Rufyl also should have mentioned that in addition to the mega-powerful Sceptre of Bhukod, Landor found the twin adamantite crowns. Why would Landor's familiar withhold this information?! The only possible reason is meta-textual: because it would ruin the surprise of meeting Shanif and hearing the story from him.</blockquote>

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