[Let's Play] ACE Gamebook 04 - Beowulf Beastslayer

[Darth Rabbitt]

Take Hrunting and eat a meal.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to take Hrunting and eat one meal. Obviously we keep the helm and mail-shirt.

[pragma]

Hrunting. Yes, eat one meal. We're long on them anyway.

[Omegonthesane]

Wield Hrunting and neck an energy drink meal.

[angelfromanotherpin]

356

As you stand at the edge of the dark mere, peering into its icy depths, your attention is drawn to the thundering waterfall on the other side of the lake, and you start to wonder what secrets might lie hidden behind it.

• If you want to negotiate the rugged rocky walls that skirt the lake, to examine the waterfall, turn to 240.
• If you would prefer to dive straight into the lake in search of your quarry, turn to 335.

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[Darth Rabbitt]

Examine the waterfall.

[pragma]

Waterfall. We're at a disadvantage while swimming, presumably.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to negotiate the rugged rocky walls that skirt the lake to examine the waterfall.

[angelfromanotherpin]

240

Scrambling over the wet rocks, you skirt the edge of the lake, where the black cliff-face rises up from the shoreline, taking care not to slip and fall into the lake’s icy depths.

Soon the roar of the waterfall is the only sound that fills your ears, and you are drenched by the clouds of mist-spray thrown up by the tumbling torrent.

As you approach the crashing cascade, you glimpse what looks like the dark mouth of a cave behind the waterfall. But the closer you get to the waterfall, so the rocks become more treacherous and difficult to negotiate.

Take an Agility test.
• If you pass the test, turn to 210.
• If you fail the test, turn to 221.

Not a failable test for us.

210

Clinging onto the slippery rock-face with fingers hooked into any crevice you can find, you eventually pass behind the roaring wall of water. And there, overhung by ferns and framed by moss-covered rocks, you find the cave mouth.

It is dark within, but enough light penetrates from outside that, as your eyes become accustomed to the gloom, you see the opening is actually the entrance to a damp passageway. Where you would expect it to get too dark to see, patches of luminous moss growing on the tunnel walls provide just enough light for you to see by.

• Do you want to enter the tunnel (turn to 410), or
• would you prefer to jump into the lake, in search of Grendel’s mother (turn to 335)?

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[Thaluikhain]

To the tunnel!

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to enter the tunnel, of course.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Enter the tunnel.

[angelfromanotherpin]

410

The tunnel is large enough for you to make your way along it without having to duck, and you find yourself wondering if this was the route by which Grendel made his way in and out of the monsters’ lair. You have not gone very far when the tunnel branches.

• If you want to follow the spur-passage to the left, turn to 440.
• If you would rather continue along what appears to be the main tunnel, turn to 480.

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[Darth Rabbitt]

Go left.

[Omegonthesane]

Choose communism (go left).

[angelfromanotherpin]

440

As you proceed along the new branch, you are forced to duck, as the roof gets lower and lower, until you emerge into a small cave and find yourself at a dead-end.

Lying on the sandy floor of the cave is the body of a warrior, or at least the remains of one. It is immediately clear that the dead man is not King Hrothgar’s trusted friend, for this warrior still has his head, but on closer inspection it also becomes clear that this man has been dead a long time; his body has decomposed and is now little more than a skeleton clad in rotted garments and rusted armour.

As you are studying the warrior’s remains, you realise that light levels in the cave are rising. Looking up you are startled to see a form coalescing like a luminous mist, in the cold air of the cave, as a sound like the keening of the wind reverberates from the glistening cave-walls enclosing you.

• If you want to stay where you are and face whatever it is that is manifesting within the cave, turn to 304.
• If you would rather quit this place before the visitation can fully form, you return to the intersection, and follow the other tunnel (turn to 280).

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[Darth Rabbitt]

Running away from a manifesting form isn't very heroic. Face it.

[Thaluikhain]

Face. Possibly it's the dead person's ghost with exposition and not a monster anyway.

[angelfromanotherpin]

304

The ghost-mist coalesces into the form of an ethereal warrior, and it does not take you long to realise that it is dressed in the same garb as the body lying on the floor of the cave.

“Who goes there?” comes the spectre’s echoing voice. “Who would come to this demon-domain of their own volition while the blood still pulses in their veins?”

“I am Beowulf,” you reply, “and I have come to kill the mother of monsters that dwells in this benighted place.”

“Then you must be a noble warrior indeed.” An expression of sadness fixes upon the phantom’s face. “I came here with the same purpose, many years ago, but I was bitten by a water-snake and succumbed to its venom before I could kill the sea-hag. In my struggle with the wave-lurker I lost my father’s broad-bladed axe and the golden brooch given to me by my wife. I cannot rest until I am reunited with those two treasures.

“If you are determined to delve deeper into the sea-hag’s lair, and you should succeed in your quest, if you come across the axe and the brooch I would be grateful if you would return them to me.”

“I will,” you say, swearing on your life and your honour, before heading back to the junction to follow the other tunnel deeper into the caves.

Add the kenning Hero’s-Promise to you Adventure Sheet and then turn to 480.

480

The passageway you are following winds down through the bedrock of the fells until it opens out into a large cavern. You are standing at the edge of a limpid pool and it appears that, if you are going to proceed any further, you are going to have to enter its icy waters. You certainly can’t see any sign of the monsters having made their home in this cave.

• If you have the Helruna’s Curse recorded on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 493.
• If not, turn to 296.

296

Noticing a half-eaten fish lying on a stone at the edge of the pool, you are sure that you are close to the fen-hag’s home, but you can see no tunnels leading out of the cave other than the one by which you entered.

• Do you want to continue searching the cave for any clues that might lead you to the ogress’s lair (turn to 277),
• or do you want to proceed by entering the pool itself (turn to 228)?

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage
Hero's-Promise

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[Thaluikhain]

Search

(Also, I was right.)

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to search the cave for any clues that might lead us to the lair of Grendel's mother.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Search the cave; even if there aren't clues there might be the brooch and axe that we're now looking for.

[angelfromanotherpin]

277

You search up and down the edge of the pool but can find nothing that gives you any indication as to where Grendel’s mother might be hiding. It is only as you turn back towards the entrance to the tunnel, by which you entered the cave, that you notice the runestone for the first time.


If you are able to solve the riddle of the runes, turn the letters of the answer into numbers using the code A=1, B=2… Z=26, add them together, and turn to the section with the same number as the total.

If not, or the section you turn to makes no sense, meaning you have got the answer wrong, turn to 228.

Character Sheet

Beowulf, son of Edgetheow

Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 30

Hero Points: 12
Crew: 12

Equipment:
• Hrunting (+1 damage)
• Sword (not carrying)
• Spear (not carrying)
• Shirt of mail
• War-helm
• Meal x2 (not carrying)

Kennings:
Dane-Friend
Dark-Mere
Shadow-Fast
True-Sight
War-Rage
Hero's-Promise

Other
Njord's Favour
Slew seven sea-monsters
Wealhtheow’s Blessing
Odin's Favour
Slew five giants
Loki's Favour

[JourneymanN00b]

After looking at some Anglo-Saxon rune translations, I got the following translation, assuming that the s symbol is an s and the c symbol is a k.

Hoardtaker
Firebreather
Deathmaker
Lifestealer

My guess to solve the riddle is “Dragon”, which equates to 59 using the code.

This is a frustrating, but damn good puzzle. It took me 2 hours (a lot of which was spent uselessly looking at Old English alphabets) before I could decipher the code.

[Omegonthesane]

I agree with Journeymann00bs translation of the riddle, and the solution of "Dragon" (59).

(...totally didn't miss that the Futhark was meant to be describing a riddle instead of just literally being the letters that had to be added together to make 414...)