[Let's Play] ACE Gamebook 01 – Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland

[deaddmwalking]

Well, it sounds like a chess riddle, where title and piece refer to King (11+9+14+7=41).

Normally a knight would have a horse and no crown, so I don't think it could be anything other than King in this case.

[JourneymanN00b]

Unfortunately, paragraph 41 does not make any sense, so we will instead turn to paragraph 477.

477

Alice slumps to the ground, dejected and defeated.

Her melancholic reverie is disturbed by the arrival of another within the mausoleum chamber. Standing at the top of the stairs is a knight clad in a suit of blood-red armour, his face hidden behind the closed visor of his helm.

The Red Knight says nothing but drawing his black iron blade crosses the chamber, sword raised.

Without the Vorpal Sword, not only will Alice not be able to slay the fiend-like Red Queen, she will not be able to defend herself against the harridan’s deathless servant either.

Alice’s adventure ends here but her nightmare is only just beginning as the vampiric knights begins to feast…

THE END

Well, that is certainly a sad ending. Luckily for Alice, one of her resurrections will kick in and send her back to paragraph 447 to give Alice another attempt to pass the Logic test.

Rolling the dice this time yielded a 4, so Alice passed the Logic test this time.

487

As Alice stands there, studying the inscription around the tomb, hearing the footsteps on the stairs coming closer with every passing second, she can’t shake the thought that the stone soldiers in the courtyard reminded her of nothing more than chessmen…

If you think you know the answer to the riddle, convert the word into numbers using the code A=1, B=2… Z=26. Add the numbers together, and then turn to the paragraph with the same number as the total.

If upon reading the paragraph you turn to it makes no sense (meaning you have got the answer wrong) or you are unable to solve the riddle in the first place, turn to 477.

Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Alice’s Adventure Sheet
AGILITY: 10
LOGIC: 10
INSANITY: 2
COMBAT: 10
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: 0 uses
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: 2 uses
ENDURANCE: 19
EQUIPMENT:
Scissors (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Golden Key
Shrinking Potion
Bread-Knife (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Mallet (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Spade (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Bloom’s Patent Plant Provender
Tin of Red Paint
Club (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Gryphon’s Golden Feather
Executioner’s Axe (Deals 3 damage in combat, -1 Combat)
Snack (+4 Endurance)
Portal 233
RESURRECTIONS: 1

[Dogopolis]

Try WHITE 23+8+9+20+5=65 +KING (41)=106

[deaddmwalking]

It did refer to the figure as a Knight, but I thought the diadem made it a king. So there's a chance that it is knight instead. Still, I'm fine with trying white king (106).

[JourneymanN00b]

“White King” is the right answer to the riddle, so we will go to paragraph 106.

106

“This must be the tomb of the White King!” Alice declares in both excitement, and shock at the implications of what this means.

Before Alice’s eyes, the stone sword held in the marble hands of the carved king at his repose, begins to glow with an inner luminescence. When the light fades again the sword in the White King’s hands is stone no more, but a gleaming steel blade, etched with runes of power.

“The Vorpal Sword!” Alice says in a reverent whisper.

Her awed reverie is disturbed by the arrival of another within the mausoleum. Standing within the arch at the top of the stairs is a knight clad in a suit of blood-red armour, his face hidden behind the closed visor of his helm.

The Red Knight says nothing but drawing his black iron blade crosses the chamber, sword raised, and Alice instinctively understands that once again she is expected to fight for her life.

If you are able to and want to use The Pen is Mightier ability now, turn to 484. If you are either not able or not willing, turn to 292.

Alice is not able to use the The Pen is Mightier ability.

292

Alice goes to take the Vorpal Sword from the king’s stone cold grasp but it is trapped and there isn’t time to free it before the Red Knight is on her, and Alice is forced to defend herself as best she can. (The Red Knight has the initiative in this battle.)

RED KNIGHT COMBAT 11 ENDURANCE 12

If Alice bests the Knight in single combat, turn to 484.

The fight:
Round 1: Alice’s Combat Rating: 7+10 = 17, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 6+11+1 = 18;
Alice’s Endurance: 17, Red Knight’s Endurance: 12
Round 2: Alice’s Combat Rating: 11+10 = 21, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1 = 20;
Mallet Roll: 3, Alice’s Endurance: 17, Red Knight’s Endurance: 9
Round 3: Alice’s Combat Rating: 9+10+1 = 20, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 7+11 = 18;
Mallet Roll: 7, Alice’s Endurance: 17, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 4: Alice’s Combat Rating: 7+10+1 = 18, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 12+11 = 23;
Alice’s Endurance: 15, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 5: Alice’s Combat Rating: 4+10 = 14, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 9+11+1 = 21;
Alice’s Endurance: 13, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 6: Alice’s Combat Rating: 4+10 = 14, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 3+11+1 = 15;
Alice’s Endurance: 11, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 7: Alice’s Combat Rating: 9+10 = 19, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 10+11+1 = 22;
Alice’s Endurance: 9, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 8: Alice’s Combat Rating: 6+10 = 16, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 11+11+1 = 23;
Alice’s Endurance: 7, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 9: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+10 = 18, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 7+11+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 5, Red Knight’s Endurance: 6
Round 10: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+10 = 18, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1 = 17;
Mallet Roll: 5, Alice’s Endurance: 5, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3
Round 11: Alice’s Combat Rating: 3+10+1 = 14, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 10+11 = 21;
Alice’s Endurance: 3, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3
Round 12: Alice’s Combat Rating: 7+10 = 17, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1 = 20;
Alice’s Endurance: 1, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3
Round 13: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+10 = 18, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1 = 20;
Alice’s Endurance: -1, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3

Alice is killed, 1 resurrection used to restore her Endurance to 22.

Round 14: Alice’s Combat Rating: 5+10 = 15, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 10+11+1 = 22;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3
Round 15: Alice’s Combat Rating: 6+10 = 16, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 6+11+1 = 18;
Alice’s Endurance: 18, Red Knight’s Endurance: 3
Round 16: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+10 = 18, Red Knight’s Combat Rating: 2+11+1 = 14;
Mallet Roll: 12, Alice’s Endurance: 18, Red Knight is knocked out

Basically, Alice gets killed by the Red Knight and takes 4 Endurance points of damage before she can kill the Red Knight.

484

Alice feels exhausted after her battle with the Red Knight, but she has been victorious nonetheless.

If Alice previously solved a chess puzzle, double the answer to that puzzle and then subtract it from this paragraph, ultimately turning to the new paragraph.

If Alice has not previously comes across, or solved, such a puzzle, turn to 302.

Alice did not previously come across a chess puzzle, but I will give the opportunity to provide the solution that the book asks for here. For the purposes of this puzzle, White is to move, and the goal is to figure out how many moves it takes for White to win the game.



Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Alice’s Adventure Sheet
AGILITY: 10
LOGIC: 10
INSANITY: 2
COMBAT: 10
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: 0 uses
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: 2 uses
ENDURANCE: 18
EQUIPMENT:
Scissors (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Golden Key
Shrinking Potion
Bread-Knife (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Mallet (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Spade (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Bloom’s Patent Plant Provender
Tin of Red Paint
Club (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Gryphon’s Golden Feather
Executioner’s Axe (Deals 3 damage in combat, -1 Combat)
Snack (+4 Endurance)
Portal 233
RESURRECTIONS: 0

[Dogopolis]

The knight can go to g3 and fork the red king and queen, and the red king can't protect her. I think checkmate is about 3 moves away, maybe 4 but it seems too hard for the type of puzzle in a non-chess puzzle book.

Edit, starting with Ng3+ the chess.com best bot loses on the 3rd move, go to 478

[deaddmwalking]

It appears that in the first row is the white queen and a white rook; in the second row is a white bishop and a red queen, in the 4th row is the red king; in the 5th row is the white knight, in the 6th row is the white king, and the 8th row is a red knight. If that is incorrect can you please clarify?

If that is correct I do not see any moves that result in a checkmate in a single move. The shortest route to a guaranteed checkmate that I can see requires white to move three times.

1) The White Knight moves to G3 putting the Red King in check (and incidentally threatening the red queen). While the red king could legally move to the D column (either D3 or D4), either move results in the white queen moving to put him in a checkmate situation. As a result the only sensible move is to remain on the E column and move to E5.
2) The White Queen moves to C5. The Red King cannot move to the F column because of the White Rook, so the only viable move is to remain on the D column and move to D6.
3) The White Queen moves to D6. Checkmate.

From the starting position neither the White Bishop or the White King can legally put the Red King in check.

If the White Rook puts the Red King in check by moving to F4 (1), the Red King could move to the D column just as in the original resulting in the Queen placing him in checkmate. To avoid that, the Red King must remain on the E column moving to E5. No matter what White does in this case (using the Bishop or the Queen), the King ends up escaping behind the White Knight requiring additional moves to put him in checkmate.

The White Queen can also move first to C2 (1) putting the Red King in check. He must remain on the D column moving to D5. The White Bishop then moves to C3 (2), putting him in check again. His only legal move is again remaining on the D column, moving to D6. The White Queen then moves to B3 (3), checkmate.

I'm decent at chess, but I'm not a master. I don't see any way to get to checkmate in fewer than 3 moves unless Black makes a mistake. The second option has the advantage of never giving the Red King a choice that could result in a faster checkmate.

Long story short, I see it taking White 3 moves to guarantee checkmate.

[JourneymanN00b]

Okay, folks. You are technically correct that the answer should be 3 moves. *However*, the author wants the player to answer 11 moves in order to properly proceed in this adventure. This is the same number of moves that White, played by Alice as the pawn (the puzzle depicts a white pawn and not a bishop), to be more exact, took to win the game in Through The Looking Glass. This particular part is what I believe as this book’s biggest weakness. Common sense would deem it unreasonable for an average player to have read Through the Looking Glass, *and* be super familiar with the chess game in that novel.

I previously stated that the game was in a winnable state when I first resurrected Alice. That statement was provided that I make this planned modification to remove the difficulties caused by the unfair chess puzzle. The reason why I posted the puzzle instead of lifting the requirement entirely was because I genuinely wanted to see if the players would use knowledge from Through the Looking Glass or plain logic to solve the puzzle. As it turns out, it was the second.

To reward you for your efforts, which the author SHOULD have considered when bringing forward the puzzle, I will grant Alice another resurrection and give her 1 more Combat point. We will now turn to paragraph 462 since that is the result after doubling the author’s intended solution and subtracting the result from 484.

462

The Red Knight dead, Alice turns her attention to recovering the Vorpal Sword. Carefully easing it from between the effigy’s fingers, Alice weighs it in her hands. The blade is perfectly balanced and unbelievably feels as light as a feather.

If Alice uses the Vorpal Sword in combat, you may add 1 point to her Combat score and any successful strike she makes against an opponent will cause 4 Endurance points of damage.

Hearing the clatter of armour and steel behind her, Alice turns in time to see the Red Knight rise from the floor and throw himself at her in one sudden, fluid movement.

At that same instant, the mausoleum echoes with the thundering sound of galloping hoof-beats and a phantasmal horse and rider emerge from the far wall, in a burst if ectoplasmic mist. The guardian of the tomb has come to Alice’s rescue, now that she is mistress of the Vorpal Sword and its protector.

Ignoring Alice now, the Red Knight turns to meet the ghostly White Knight’s charge. Swords clash and sparks fly.

“She’s my prisoner, you know!” the Red Knight growls.

“Yes, but then I came and rescued her!” the White Knight replies.

“Well, we must fight for her, then,” says the Red Knight.

“You will observe the Rules of Battle, of course?” the White Knight remarks.

“I always do,” says the Red Knight.

It is all the distraction Alice needs. With one swing of the Vorpal Sword she takes the undead knight’s head from his shoulders, as the keen-edged blade meets the stump of his bony neck.

As the knight’s armoured head tumbles to the floor, the rest of the Red Queen’s vampiric champion falls to his knees before poleaxing onto the floor, and remains motionless this time.

“You saved me!” Alice says as the ghostly White Knight dismounts from his phantasmal steed.

“It was a glorious victory, wasn’t it?” says the ghost.

“Is it your body that lies within?” Alice asks, her eyes on the great stone sarcophagus.

“What does it matter where my body happens to be?” replies the knight. “What’s done is done, but what still needs to be done must be done also. It is time you were gone from this place. Wonderland needs you.”

If you have the word ‘Portal’ recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet, then you will also have a number associated with it. If so, turn the section with the same number. If not, turn to 123.

Alice has the word ‘Portal” recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet with the number 233, so we will now go to paragraph 233.

233

Alice agrees that there’s not a moment to lose, but how will she return to the palace to finish the job she started there?

If Alice has a Golden Feather, turn to 276. If not, but Alice is wearing a Wig, turn to 326. If Alice has neither of these things, turn to 305.

Alice has a Golden Feather.

276

Hearing the sound of strong wingbeats coming from beyond the walls of the ivory tower, Alice races back down the stairs into the courtyard at the foot of the keep.

“Oh, Gryphon! Dear Gryphon! You’re alive!” Alice cries, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Do you have the sword?” the Gryphon asks as the child buries her face in its feathers.

“I do,” Alice replies with a sniff.

“Then climb on my back once more and let us return to Wonderland.”

Alice does as the Gryphon says and with one bound, the magnificent creature takes to the sky again. They fly over the foetid forest, eventually coming to land in a clearing before the mirror portal by which Alice arrived on the island of the Jabberwock.

It is then that a blood-curdling howl breaks the eerie silence of the wood. It is the same howl Alice heard when she first arrived here, only it is so close now that she can almost feel the breath of the beast at her back.

“Do what needs to be done,” the Gryphon tells Alice as she jumps down from his back. “I will guard the portal to make sure that nothing follows you through.”

Alice opens her mouth as if about to speak but then stops herself. The Gryphon is right. She has to finish this.

The glass becoming a silvery mist at her touch, she steps through… And then she is back in the palace, where the Red Queen is waiting for her. Turn to 41.

41

Screeching like a banshee, the glamour that hid her true face the first time Alice and the Red Queen met dispelled, the vampire throws herself as the child, determined to rip her still beating heart from her chest.

If you want Alice to use the Curiouser and Curiouser ability in the hope of helping herself now, turn to 500. If you want her to use The Pen is Mightier ability to resolve her struggle against the Red Queen, turn to 60. If you would rather Alice trust her fate to the keen edge of the Vorpal Sword, turn to 72.

Alice can use the Curiouser and Curiouser ability, but not the The Pen is Mightier ability. Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Alice’s Adventure Sheet
AGILITY: 10
LOGIC: 10
INSANITY: 2
COMBAT: 11
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: 0 uses
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: 2 uses
ENDURANCE: 18
EQUIPMENT:
Scissors (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Golden Key
Shrinking Potion
Bread-Knife (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Mallet (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Spade (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Bloom’s Patent Plant Provender
Tin of Red Paint
Club (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Gryphon’s Golden Feather
Executioner’s Axe (Deals 3 damage in combat, -1 Combat)
Snack (+4 Endurance)
Portal 233
Vorpal Sword (Deals 4 damage in combat, +1 Combat)
RESURRECTIONS: 1

[Dogopolis]

Just trust the sword.

[deaddmwalking]

I know the first Curiouser and Curiouser didn't seem to make things better and might have made them worse, but I'd hope that sometimes it works better. I'd vote to use to at least get a better understanding if they were just an evil trick. I think that with a Resurrection and a Vorpal Sword we're likely to win (eventually). I suppose this ability might replace the Queen with a Jabberwocky (like an animated rose bush replaced the gardeners), but that'd be cool, too. Since this seems very close to the end, it would be a shame to have 2 still in inventory.

I'm curious about the chess puzzle and why 11 was in the book. There are multiple paths to a guaranteed checkmate and I'm not sure I can find one that takes 11 moves. That's definitely inefficient.

[pragma]

I lean towards curioser and curiouser, again assuming that it sometimes produces a good result and the author wants you to unload ammo at the end.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, use Curiouser and Curiouser.

[JourneymanN00b]

I know the first Curiouser and Curiouser didn't seem to make things better and might have made them worse, but I'd hope that sometimes it works better. I'd vote to use to at least get a better understanding if they were just an evil trick. I think that with a Resurrection and a Vorpal Sword we're likely to win (eventually). I suppose this ability might replace the Queen with a Jabberwocky (like an animated rose bush replaced the gardeners), but that'd be cool, too. Since this seems very close to the end, it would be a shame to have 2 still in inventory.

I'm curious about the chess puzzle and why 11 was in the book. There are multiple paths to a guaranteed checkmate and I'm not sure I can find one that takes 11 moves. That's definitely inefficient.

The 11 moves is a reference to the chess game portrayed at the beginning of Through the Looking Glass, which serves as the basis for this story's plot. More information can be found here.

Anyway, I have counted the votes, and using the Curiouser and Curiouser ability won over not using it by a 3-1 vote.

500

Having given herself over to her bloodlust completely, the Red Queen starts to transform. Shedding her royal robes and her human skin, the vampire takes on the form of a monstrous blood-red serpent-woman. Hissing like a cobra, her sinuous body writhing with an almost hypnotic rhythm, the Gorgon strikes! (The Gorgon has the initiative in this battle.)

GORGON COMBAT 12 ENDURANCE 14

If Alice somehow manages to slay the transformed Red Queen, turn to 125.

The fight:
Round 1: Alice’s Combat Rating: 4+11+1 = 16, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 6+12+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 16, Gorgon’s Endurance: 14
Round 2: Alice’s Combat Rating: 11+11+1 = 23, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 6+12+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 16, Gorgon’s Endurance: 10
Round 3: Alice’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1+1 = 18, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 5+12 = 17;
Alice’s Endurance: 16, Gorgon’s Endurance: 6
Round 4: Alice’s Combat Rating: 11+11+1+1 = 24, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 4+12 = 16;
Alice’s Endurance: 16, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 5: Alice’s Combat Rating: 6+11+1+1 = 19, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 10+12 = 22;
Alice’s Endurance: 14, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 6: Alice’s Combat Rating: 6+11+1 = 18, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 6+12+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 12, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 7: Alice’s Combat Rating: 3+11+1 = 15, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 10+12+1 = 23;
Alice’s Endurance: 10, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 8: Alice’s Combat Rating: 7+11+1 = 19, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 7+12+1 = 20;
Alice’s Endurance: 8, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 9: Alice’s Combat Rating: 6+11+1 = 18, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 8+12+1 = 21;
Alice’s Endurance: 6, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 10: Alice’s Combat Rating: 3+11+1 = 15, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 6+12+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 4, Gorgon’s Endurance: 2
Round 11: Alice’s Combat Rating: 10+11+1 = 22, Gorgon’s Combat Rating: 7+12+1 = 20;
Alice’s Endurance: 4, Gorgon’s Endurance: -2

Due to a long string of unlucky rolls, Alice is heavily damaged and her Endurance goes all the way down to 4 before she is able to take out the Gorgon.

125

Taking the Vorpal Sword in both hands, Alice plunges it into the vampire’s shrivelled black heart. The Red Queen gives a gasp and then a soul wrenching scream as her undead form dies at last. Her body bursts into flame and quickly burns down to nothing but ash, which is then blown away on the powerful wind that suddenly howls through the Palace.

But as the Red Queen’s remains are blown to the four winds, so the walls of the palace start to dissolve and melt away like mist…

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Alice yawns and stretches, finding herself back home in the drawing room, curled up in a corner of the great arm-chair, with a dear little black kitten, sitting in her lap, the cat purring contentedly to herself as she washes her face with a paw.

Alice’s nightmare is over and she is home again… Isn’t she?

Take an Insanity test. If Alice passes the test, turn to 159. If she fails the test, turn to 139.

Rolling the dice yielded a 10, so Alice passed the Insanity test.

159

“You shouldn’t purr so loud,” Alice says, rubbing her eyes, and addressing the kitten, respectfully, yet with some severity. “You woke me out of – oh! – such a dream! I dreamed I was far from here, and had such adventures, and then I dreamed that I woke up and found myself at home…”

Alice’s words falter and she gets up out of the arm-chair, placing the purring kitten carefully back on the cushion, and approaches the large looking-glass that dominates the room.

Beside the great arm-chair, upon a table standing on the hearth-rug, is a chess set.

“Kitty, can you play chess?” Alice asks the kitten, feeling muddle-headed. “I’m asking it seriously, because I dreamt that I was playing chess. Or at least I think I was playing chess. There was certainly a Red Knight and a White Knight, and the Red Queen and the White King’s Castle…”

Alice stumbles over her words again as she peers at the reflection of the room in the great mirror.

“Now, if you’ll only attend, Kitty, I’ll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there’s the room you can see through the glass – that’s just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair – all but the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way; I know that, because I’ve held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room.”

Alice breaks off as she tries to read the names on the spines on the books on the bookcase in the Looking-glass house… And finds that she can read them without any problem at all.

“The books in the mirror are the right way round,” Alice tells the kitten, “but then… that must mean that we are inside the Looking-glass house.”

Alice’s mind suddenly feels clear at last. “This isn’t real!” she exclaims.

Picking up a poker from beside the fireplace, Alice’s takes a step closer to the mirror.

“None of this is real!”

Raising the poker, she swings it at the looking-glass.

The mirror shatters, shards of silvered glass cascading down about her, revealing nothing but the black void of oblivion beyond. And then the fireplace fractures, as does the table and the chess set, the arm-chair, and even the kitten, and Alice’s world falls apart around her…

Turn to 49.

49

Alice is standing on a chequer-tiled floor that looks like a huge chessboard. The poker she was holding is gone, having become the Vorpal Sword once more.

Beyond the edge of the chessboard the ground has broken away and beyond that Alice can see nothing but darkness, although it is a darkness through which circle rotating broken mirror shards. As Alice’s gaze falls on the shards she catches glimpses of other places through the looking-glass fragments: gardens of clipped topiary; a palatial house under a threatening, gun-metal grey sky; a forest of towering fungi; a grim island; a crumbling ivory tower.

Standing in front of her, on the opposite side of the chessboard, is a girl. She appears to be about eleven years of age, with tangled blonde hair and a determined scowl on her face.

“And so we meet at last,” the girl says.

“But…” Alice struggles to find the words as she realises that she is looking at a mirror image of herself, albeit one with a cruel expression more akin to that of the Red Queen on her face. “You’re me.”

“Not yet, but that is the plan,” replies the other.

“Now I really must be dreaming,” Alice gasps in disbelief.

“But of course you are, foolish girl. You’ve been dreaming ever since you met my minion on the riverbank. This has all been a dream. But that doesn’t make it any less real.”

“Your minion?”

“Of course! He didn’t know he was, but that makes no odds in the end.”

So, Alice knows the truth at last. “This has all been a trap to lure me here? But to what end?”

“Conquest, of course. To seize power, to usurp control.”

“Conquest? Of Wonderland?”

“No, you imbecile! Of you! Of your physical form! I plan to take over your body!” Alice’s alter-ego shrieks, suddenly sounding a lot like a crazed queen Alice once met at a croquet match. “When you entered the Looking-Glass House the first time, I entered your world in return, and had a taste of the delights it had to offer. But when you woke from your dream I was dragged back here, to this unreality, this pale shadow realm of insubstantial hopes and fears given transient form, to brood and scheme. For it was worse being back here, having seen what the waking world had to offer, than it was to be lost within your unconscious id in the first place. Having had a taste I wanted more, and for that to happen I had to take control. And now here you are, ensnared within my trap, my plan of acquisition coming to fruition at long last. Why, today must be my birthday.”

“Well, it’s not my birthday!” Alice says crossly. “And if you’re me then it can’t be your birthday either.”

“Why not?” challenges the Other Alice.

“Because that’s simple logic.”

“Then it must be my unbirthday,” the Other Alice gloats.

“A Looking-Glass Alice taking over my body from inside a dream? Why that’s impossible!” says Alice, her well-reasoned logical argument helping her gain a foothold in this unreal reality, some of her old confidence and resourcefulness resurfacing.

“Impossible? Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” counters the Other.

“And to think I was once very fond of pretending to be two people,” says Alice, weary of all this verbal sparring. “But it’s no use now to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!”

“And that person will be me!” hisses the Other.

“And how do you reason that?” asks Alice.

“Simple,” says the Other, “all I have to do is kill you. If you die here, when your body awakens, it will no longer be you looking out of your eyes. It will be me!”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Alice challenges her black-hearted doppelgänger. “You are no bigger than I am, even in this unreality. We are the same, except that I am the bearer of the Vorpal Sword.”

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality,” the Other Alice mocks her, and with that begins to transform.

The Other Alice’s neck begins to elongate, writhing like a serpent as it does so. At the same time, her body starts to swell, bursting free of her pinafore dress, her skin blackening as it becomes hard and scaly. A huge pair of wings burst from her back and unfurl to stretch across the width of the chessboard. Her feet become gigantic dragon-like talons, her fingers steel-hard curling black claws. And looming above it all, atop the twisting serpentine neck, is the mirror image of Alice’s own face.

“Your move,” laughs the Alice-Jabberwock.

How can the real Alice hope to conquer the Other Alice’s monstrous alter ego, even if she is armed with the Vorpal Sword? If only she didn’t have to face the Jabberwock alone.

If Alice has a Golden Feather, turn to 29. If not, turn to 79.

Alice has a Golden Feather.

29

Hearing a great beating of wings, Alice looks up to see the Gryphon swooping down towards the monster. The Alice-Jabberwock gives a roar of defiance, and tries to knock Alice’s saviour from the air with one huge claw. But the eagle-lion is too fast. It banks and soars over the monster’s back, raking one wing with its outstretched claws.

Make a note of the fact that the Alice-Jabberwock has suffered one attack already and turn to 79.

79

If the word ‘Phantasm’ is written on Alice’s Adventure Sheet, turn to 128. If not, turn to 153.

‘Phantasm’ is not written on Alice’s Adventure Sheet.

153

If the word ‘Bonkers’ is recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet, turn to 99. If not, turn to 119.

‘Bonkers’ is not recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet.

119

If the word ‘Metamorphosis’ is recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet, turn to 322. If not, turn to 231.

‘Metamorphosis’ is not recorded on Alice’s Adventure Sheet.

231

How many attacks have already been made against the Alice-Jabberwock?

None? Turn to 418.

One? Turn to 287.

Two? Turn to 328.

Three? Turn to 363.

Four? Turn to 513.

One attack has already been made against the Alice-Jabberwock.

287

“And now you die!” roars the monster, the child’s voice transformed to become a rumbling dragon-roar. Preparing to wield the Vorpal Sword one more time, Alice readies herself for her final battle.

(Alice has the initiative in this battle, but the Vorpal Sword will only cause 3 Endurance points of damage to the monster’s iron-hard scales, rather than the usual 4.)

JABBERWOCK COMBAT 11 ENDURANCE 18

If Alice somehow manages to slay the Jabberwock, turn to 520.

The fight:
Round 1: Alice’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1+1 = 18, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 4+11 = 15;
Alice’s Endurance: 4, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 15
Round 2: Alice’s Combat Rating: 3+11+1+1 = 16, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 8+11 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 2, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 15
Round 3: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1 = 20, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1 = 17;
Alice’s Endurance: 2, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 12
Round 4: Alice’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1+1 = 18, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 9+11 = 20;
Alice’s Endurance: 0, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 12
Alice is killed, 1 resurrection used to restore her Endurance to 22.

Round 5: Alice’s Combat Rating: 2+11+1 = 14, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 4+11+1 = 16;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 12
Round 6: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1 = 20, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 7+11+1 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 9
Round 7: Alice’s Combat Rating: 7+11+1+1 = 20, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 8+11 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 6
Round 8: Alice’s Combat Rating: 5+11+1+1 = 18, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 3+11 = 14;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 3
Round 9: Alice’s Combat Rating: 8+11+1+1 = 21, Jabberwock’s Combat Rating: 8+11 = 19;
Alice’s Endurance: 20, Jabberwock’s Endurance: 0

As expected, Alice has to use her last resurrection after the Jabberwock kills her. She then takes 2 more Endurance points of damage before she kills the Jabberwock.

520

Alice plunges the Vorpal Sword through the monster’s soft underbelly, piercing the Jabberwock’s chest cavity and the heart within. Withdrawing the blade again, she brings it round in a sweeping arc and lops off the monster’s head. Decapitated, the Alice-Jabberwock’s body immediately starts to dissolve into mist. And as it does so, Alice’s mind is flooded with memories long suppressed, of a previous visit to Wonderland.

Panting for breath, feeling light-headed from the rush of recollections, Alice watches, mouth agape, as the last wisps of mist are dispersed by a breeze that seems to blow up from nowhere. At the same time, the circling mirror-portals fracture again and again, into a thousand-thousand fragments, which scatter to the depthless reaches of the void, where they become twinkling pinpricks of starlight.

Alice looks around her at the cracked and chequered plain, but she is utterly alone. “And what happens to me now?” she asks the wind.

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” comes a familiar voice, speaking from a grinning mouth that has materialised in mid-air in front of her.

“Cheshire Puss!” Alice exclaims, and the rest of the Cat quickly coalesces around its smile.

“So where is it you want to get to?” the floating feline asks.

“I don’t much care where –” Alice begins.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” says the Cat.

“– so long as I get somewhere,” Alice adds, by way of an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that.”

And then the Cat too is dissolving into mist, only this mist swells and roils like massing thunderclouds, and other faces appear before Alice’s eyes, formed from coiling tendrils of vapour. She sees a serene blue face smoking a hookah pipe, the brightly-coloured beak and blue-grey plumage of a dodo, and the mechanically blinking eyes of a stuffed white rabbit – and a myriad voices seem to whisper to her on the breeze, “Thank you, Alice, and goodbye.”

The nightmare is over, Wonderland is saved, and, most importantly of all, Alice has saved herself from oblivion.

She feels the stress and strain of her adventures ease, the weariness in her bones melting away, and a smile spreads slowly across her face as the fractured chessboard arena and the midnight gulf beyond fade to white…

     In a Wonderland they lie,
     Dreaming as the days go by,
     Dreaming as the summers die:
     Ever drifting down the stream —
     Lingering in the golden gleam —
     Life, what is it but a dream?

THE END

It took some modifications and extra help on my part, but we have successfully completed this adventure. Congratulations for doing so! Thank you to everyone for playing.

As I said before, my next Let’s Play will be The Dungeon on Blood Island. I hope to see all of you there when it is set up. For now, I will be taking a short break to focus on work duties, which are heating up and occupying most of my time.

P.S. Have a happy Labor Day weekend.

Alice’s Adventure Sheet
AGILITY: 10
LOGIC: 10
INSANITY: 2
COMBAT: 11
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: 0 uses
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: 1 use
ENDURANCE: 20
EQUIPMENT:
Scissors (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Golden Key
Shrinking Potion
Bread-Knife (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Mallet (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Spade (Deals 3 damage in combat)
Bloom’s Patent Plant Provender
Tin of Red Paint
Club (Deals 3 damage in combat if 2-10 is rolled, knocks out opponent if 11-12 is rolled)
Gryphon’s Golden Feather
Executioner’s Axe (Deals 3 damage in combat, -1 Combat)
Snack (+4 Endurance)
Portal 233
Vorpal Sword (Deals 4 damage in combat, +1 Combat)
Alice-Jabberwock has suffered one attack
RESURRECTIONS: 0

[Dogopolis]

Thanks for running it.

That chess puzzle was some serious crapola. Looks like best strategy is to munchkin, have great logic or agility and rubbish in the other one.

[deaddmwalking]

Did Curiouser and Curiouser make the queen fight worsem

[JourneymanN00b]

Did Curiouser and Curiouser make the queen fight worsem

Yes it did. Just using the Vorpal Sword would have resulted in Alice fighting the Vampiress with 11 Combat and 12 Endurance.

[deaddmwalking]

Thanks for running it and thanks for taking some editorial control. I definitely think that helped. Looks like there is a lot we skipped. With a horror theme sometimes the most direct path is best - would it mostly have been better or worse if we hit everything?

[JourneymanN00b]

Thanks for running it and thanks for taking some editorial control. I definitely think that helped. Looks like there is a lot we skipped. With a horror theme sometimes the most direct path is best - would it mostly have been better or worse if we hit everything?

Most of the things she missed would have boosted her stats, given her items to make combat easier, and given her better outcomes for tests such as the password and the Jabberwocky attacks. So the answer would have been mostly better.

That is why I offered character boosts in addition to resurrections when Alice died the first time.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Was there any point where using Curiouser and Curioser would have really helped us, or is it always a troll option?

[JourneymanN00b]

Was there any point where using Curiouser and Curioser would have really helped us, or is it always a troll option?

I haven’t looked in too much detail to see if there are any good outcomes, but all of the Curiouser and Curiouser outcomes that I have seen are bad.

EDIT: I took a closer look, and there is at least one case where Curiouser and Curiouser does somewhat help Alice, but doing so incurred it’s own cost.

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks for running.

Not really impressed with this book, though, Jonathan Green has done better. The maze, and especially the chess bit, not good.

[JourneymanN00b]

I appreciate all the thanks that was headed my way, as it makes running these Let's Plays and holding the line worthwhile.