So, as of the end of the last book, Pip still had some unfinished business, and that business being the recovery of King Arthur's sword Excalibur. So I don't think anyone will be surprised at the back cover blurb here:
"Whoever holds Excalibur rules Avalon"
States the ancient lore. And now King Arthur’s fabled sword has been stolen. Avalon is in chaos, and Merlin’s strongest sorcery cannot discover the thief.
YOUR mission: to track down Excalibur through realms in time and space of incredible strangeness. Where you must use magic and solve cryptic puzzles to survive. Where creatures of hideous power will confront you. Where you will find the Kingdom of Horror--and adventure beyond your wildest nightmares...
As mentioned before during the playthroughs of the earlier books, the difficulty level of this series really took a huge spike after Book 3, as you guys found out in the last playthrough. For this book, Brennan didn't bother to pretend otherwise either, beginning the book with a WARNING on the very first page:
WARNING:
This is the most difficult GrailQuest yet!
To complete it, you will require exceptional patience, skill, courage and not a little luck.
Examine every possibility with care (and caution). Ignore nothing. And above all be certain to map your progress as you go along.
This latter point is especially important should you manage to enter the Kingdom of Horrors where the nature of reality is such that retracing your steps will not necessarily return you to the place you have just come from.
As mentioned before, I will probably implement some house rules to reduce the risk in what is probably the most consistently annoying mechanism in this book....which hopefully will mean that this book won't be more difficult than the last one, at least. I'll reveal more about that when we get to it.
First, as usual, we open with Merlin's summoning:
HERE BE MERLIN
Ah, there you are.
Don't panic--there's no crisis. No wicked wizards on the loose. No rampaging dragons. No invading Saxons. No crisis at all--just a small problem. Or smallish. Well, quite a big problem, really. A rebellion in Avalon.
You remember Avalon, don't you? King Arthur's realm. Knights. Heroes. Damsels in distress--all that sort of thing. And me. The Wizard Merlin.
The King has instructed me to send you this message.
COME HERE AT ONCE!
Got that?
COME HERE AT ONCE!
signed, Arturus Rex.
You'll need your usual equipment, of course. A pencil, paper and eraser and two six-sided dice. One will do if you haven't got two, but two is better. Get your equipment together then come back. Now pay close attention because this is important.
If you have never adventured in the GrailQuest before, turn to 1.
If you have adventured in the GrailQuest, but can't remember the rules, still turn to 1. You can of course refresh your memory with the cut-out rule card bookmark at the back.
If you have adventured in the GrailQuest and remember all about rolling up your LIFE POINTS, fighting and so on, turn direct to 2.
All the rules that are mentioned in Section 1 are rules that we've been through before: LP, Combat, Friendly Reaction, Bribes, Sleep, and Exp points. The only slight variation compared to the last book is that for some reason, we are only allowed to take 10 Permanent LP with us to the next book. I guess we'll see about that when we get there, but since the previous book says we can take up to 40, we're allowed to take all of our 15 Permanent LP with us for this quest.
Speaking of which, let's find out how much we start with for this playthrough:
1st roll = 7.
2nd roll = 5.
3rd roll = 9.
Pip's starting LP = 9x4+15 = 51.
Knock-knock!
Just ignore that--somebody's knocking at my door. They'll go away eventually--they always do.
Now pay attention. In a moment I'm going to call you back to my time. I'm going to cast a Net Spell which captures your mind and pops it back into the body of a young person here in Avalon. A young person called Pip, who is quite a hero. Pip has slaughtered wizards and dragons and monsters galore. Yes, indeed, a sturdy young person.
I have Pip's body here, all ready for you. It's in a wicker hamper underneath the table. In quite good order too. A few scars from old wounds, but sound of wind and limb. If you've used Pip's body before, you'll hardly notice any difference from the last time.
Except for the bolt through the neck. I'm sorry about that but there's nothing I can do about it now. It was a little experiment I was trying after I read an old diary by a Dr Von Frankenstein. He used lightning to animate bodies. Most ingenious approach. I tried it out on young Pip's body, actually. Iron bolt through the neck, propped Pip up against an oak tree and waited for a thunderstorm. There were seven lightning strikes directly into the bolt. It didn't animate the body, but it fused the iron into place and now I can't get the bolt out without removing the head.
Never mind: you'll look quite distinguished with a bolt through your neck. There are also certain benefits from lightning which...
Knock-knock-knock!
Go away! No, not you. Now where was I? Oh, yes, the Net Spell. When you get here, I'll have your spell books ready and your magic sword and some very special...
Knock! Crash! Crash!
Will you go away! Honestly, some people just don't understand the meaning of privacy. Of course, the whole of Avalon has gone to pieces since the rebellion started. But we'll soon sort out that little problem. It's only a question of getting back Excalibur for the King.
What was I saying? Yes--very special armour which will let you win all your fights without any chance of injury. And some excellent magical gear.
But first the Net Sp...
Crash! Crash! Splinter! Thud!
Those peasants don't know their own strength, do they? The door is half off its hinges. I shall have something to say to them all right when I've finished this spell.
Now you just relax and turn to 3.
The Net Spell snakes through Time from Merlin's outstretched fingers, reaching with invisible tendrils to capture your mind and bring it to the green fields and rolling countryside of Arthur's Avalon. You feel faintly disorientated. Your surroundings fade. No longer are you in the Twentieth Century. Instead...
This isn't right. No green fields, no rolling countryside. You may be in Avalon, but if you are, you're in a funny part of Avalon. Your trusty talking sword, EJ, is with you. Merlin must have left the body you'll be using for your adventure in a box, somewhere. And now you've arrived, you're trapped!
If you want to call for help, turn to 23.
Or you could try poking EJ through the gaps in the wickerwork to knock up the hasp, in which case go to 55.
Well, we start with EJ this time. That's some good news, at least....
how do we get out of the prison, though?