The Gaming Den

Quest: Best in Show

As you leave the village of Tithebury Cross, you pass a small row of thatched cottages. One of them catches your eye, its garden abundant with brightly-colored flowers and sweet-smelling roses. An elderly woman is working in the garden, pruning a cherry tree with a small pair of shears. When she sees you watching her, she immediately straightens and waves you over.

'Good day to you, traveler,' she says, her chubby cheeks bulging with a smile. 'I'm Beatrice Fletcher – how lovely to meet you. I see you're admiring my garden. Isn't it a marvel, despite this wretched weather?' The woman wipes her brow. 'I don't suppose you fancy some work, do you? Ha, don't worry – I don't see you as the type to have green fingers. No, I got other work in mind for you. See that?' She points to an area of the garden where several large turnips are starting to emerge from the soil. 'Those turnips... they're prize-winners. Do you know I've won the prize for Best Root Vegetable in Tithebury five years running? Five years! People expect me to win... but this year... this year is different.' She sighs and shakes her head. 'My little beauties aren't doing so well. It's the heat, you see. But Martha Weevil, you should see the size of her turnips. Witchery, I tell you. It's outright cheating!'

The woman places a hand in her apron pocket and pulls out a small earthenware pot. 'But this... this will even up the odds. I got it off that kind old witch, the one that lives out in the woods – but don't tell a soul. Wouldn't want my good name to be associated with the likes of her. I'm sure you'll understand.' She holds out the pot to you.

'Look, it's simple. Do you fancy earning a bit of coin? I need someone... discreet – someone to accidentally spill a bit of this on Martha's turnips.' She shakes the pot and you hear the sound of liquid sloshing around inside. 'What do you say?'

• Agree to the task?
• Tell her it's cheating?

Following Beatrice's directions, you head out of Tithebury Cross and soon find yourself on a seldom-used track that winds up the face of a craggy hill. At the summit, you discover an old shack, perched precariously on the cliff-edge. Like a house of cards, you could easily imagine the slightest gust of wind toppling it over at any second. From an open window you hear the screech of a baby crying, and a woman's voice raised in anger. Next to the ramshackle building is an empty chicken coop and a small vegetable garden.

You take the earthenware pot out of your backpack and remove the stopper. A strong vinegary smell drifts up from the inside. Keeping the pot at arm's length, you approach the vegetable patch. Much of it is covered in straggly weeds and withered plants. But, astonishingly, along its furthest edge, three enormous turnips are growing - their pale rounded tops protruding from the soil.

You sprinkle the vinegary potion over the turnips, then step away, not entirely sure what the results will be. A minute or two later and you get your answer. The turnips start to shake and tremble – then, suddenly, one of them sprouts a pair of spindly arms and starts to push itself out of the ground! From a jagged mouth, the creature emits a rumbling growl as it squeezes itself free, staggering dizzily onto a pair of skinny legs. The other turnips are also pulling themselves out of the soils and within seconds you find yourself facing three of the monstrous creatures. Their root-like hands clench into fists as they stumble crazily towards you.

You must fight the turnips as a single enemy:

	Speed	Brawn	Armor	Health
Turnips	0	0	1	10

Round 1: Us 9+2, Them 9; 6+3-1 damage, they're at 2.
Round 2: Us 12+2, Them 6; 4+3-1 damage, turnips defeated!

No intro-level beasties are a match for us!

Your sword slices through the last of the turnips, sending a spray of white fleshy pulp showering across the vegetable patch. The creature topples to the ground, its strange spindly legs kicking in the air for a few seconds before finally becoming still. You drop to your knees exhausted. In every direction, chunks of turnip lie across the ground, each one giving off a strange vinegary smell.

A child's cry alerts you to the fact that you are no longer alone. Spinning round, you see two young children watching you from the edge of the garden, mouths agape. A third has run back to the shack. Raised voices follow, then a young woman emerges from the building, striding angrily onto the hillside. A screeching baby is held under each arm – both carried along like a sack of potatoes.

'Henry, if you're playing games again, I swear I'll...' Martha sees you and stops dead in her tracks. Her eyes scan the scene of turnip devastation. 'What... what have you done?' she gasps. 'My turnips!'

• Reveal Beatrice's plan?
• Blame the strange turnips?
• Make a run for it?

'Beatrice? Beatrice Fletcher?' Angry tears start to well in Martha's eyes. 'That cruel narrow-minded woman. She would see my family starve just because of a silly village competition. Bertrand, Emma, take the babies inside. Now!' The two children hurry to their mother's side and take one of the bawling babies into their arms. After giving you a suspicious look, they head back up the hill, towards the ramshackle building.

As you push yourself onto your feet, Martha strides over, shaking her head as she eyes the chopped-up pieces of turnip. 'A traveler gave me those turnips. They were to feed the young ones,' she says. 'It's been hard without my dear Frederick around. But those turnips... they're the first thing that's ever grown in this wretched soil. A miracle, they were.' She brushes away her tears, then fixes you with a cold, determined stare. 'Will you help me get my own back on Beatrice Fletcher? She should pay for what she has done, don't you agree?'

• Agree to help Martha Weevil?
• Politely decline and return to Beatrice?

Good! Help me clear some of this up – we'll need it.'

You look at Martha quizzically, wondering what plan she has in mind. She re-enters the house and returns a few moments later with a basket. Several of her children follow at her heels, whispering excitedly to each other. Together, you gather up some chunks of the vinegary-smelling turnip. Once the basket is full, Martha starts back towards the house.

'What is it for?' you ask with interest. Martha turns and gives you a sly grin. 'I'm going to make Beatrice Fletcher eat humble pie.'

You follow Martha into the shack – a cramped stuffy room filled with dirt and cobwebs. A single pallet bed rests along one wall, lined with five grubby-faced children. One of them is rocking a wooden crib with her foot. Inside, two new-born babies fidget and squirm beneath a moth-eaten blanket.

Martha opens her larder, which you notice is almost bare – save for some dust and a scuttling beetle – and takes out a small sack of flour and a couple of eggs. She explains that this is all the food she has now, having killed the last of her chickens to feed her starving family.

'Henry, light the fire if you can, please,' says Martha, as she clears the table of broken dolls and gnawed chicken bones. One of the children, clearly the eldest, takes a tinder box from next to the mattress and proceeds to light the few sticks of dry wood in the stone hearth.

'I have nothing,' explains Martha, breaking the eggs and adding them to the flour. 'But I ask for no charity. Certainly not from those stuck-up Tithebury villagers. They go to far with their petty games and superstitions.' She glances at the basket of turnip and grins. 'But this time... this time I'm gonna make them eat their words!'

• Offer Martha 10 Gold Crowns?
• Let Martha finish her cooking?

Martha spoons the turnip into a bowl and covers it with a thick layer of pastry. The pie is then placed in a small clay oven to cook. The gaunt children sit in silence, eyeing the pie hungrily as the smell of freshly baked pastry fills the room.

Half an hour later and the pie is ready. Martha takes it out of the oven and places it on the table. The children gather round it, watching it expectantly, as if something mysterious will suddenly happen. Martha catches your eye and begins to explain her plan. Apparently Beatrice makes a pie every afternoon and leaves it on her windowsill to cool. Martha wants you to sneak back to the woman's cottage and switch the pies. 'Whatever that potion did to those turnips, let's see what it does to her!' She smiles.

• Agree to switch the pies?
• Refuse and return to Beatrice instead?

You wrap the hot pie in a blanket and tuck it into your backpack. Then you head back down the hill to Beatrice Fletcher's cottage. As Martha predicted, you find a freshly-baked pie resting on one of the windowsills.

You push open the garden gate and carefully creep up to the window. After a last check to make sure no one is watching, you remove your backpack and take out Martha's pie. Both are of similar size and color – you doubt the old woman will notice much of a difference. Quickly, you switch the pies, placing the turnip pie on the windowsill.

• Hide in the garden and wait?
• Return to Martha?

It is late evening when Beatrice finally appears at the window. 'Time for a nice slice of pie,' she declares, licking her lips. The old woman picks up the pie and takes it inside. You wait patiently in the garden, wondering what will happen to the woman when she eats it. Could it be worse than what happened to you on the hillside?

You creep towards the window, hoping to take a quick peek inside. At that moment, Martha comes rushing up to the garden gate, waving her arms around frantically. 'I've changed my mind! I've changed my mind!' she cries. 'We have to stop her eating it! Quick!'

You push open the door of the cottage to find Beatrice sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath. She is clutching at her throat with both hands, her once-rosy cheeks now a deathly shade of white.

'Oh, what have I done?' cries Martha. 'This is terrible. We have to help her!'

You start toward the flailing woman, but draw back when you see the body start to shake and convulse.

'We're too late!' gasps Martha, backing up towards the door. 'It's the witch's magic. It'll do to her what it did to those turnips!'

All of a sudden, Beatrice Fletcher begins to expand, growing outwards like a giant balloon. Gnarly roots burst from the ends of her fingers and toes, followed by a flurry of green shoots growing out of her mouth and ears, to form a tangle of leaves.

'She's... she's turning into a... no, it just can't be!' Martha is staring at the growing monster in horror. 'She's becoming a turnip!'

As you continue to watch, the old woman grows bigger and bigger, her root-like legs and arms shrinking into her bulging round body. Seconds later and there is nothing that remains of Beatrice Fletcher... only an enormous turnip resting on the floor of her living room.

You walk over and warily prod the turnip with your foot, fearing it might be another of those strange creatures that attacked you in Martha's garden. But this turnip appears ordinary.

'Well, it is a fitting end of sorts,' says Martha, eyeing up the turnip with a thoughtful expression. 'Now she'll win that silly competition after all.' You both exchange bemused glances.

(We did not give Martha a gift of ten gold crowns.)

'I should go,' says Martha anxiously. 'I don't want to be caught here with... that thing.' She points to the giant turnip. 'You should too,' she adds. 'The villagers will not be forgiving if they suspect us of dabbling in witchcraft.' Martha runs to the door, checks that the coast is clear, and then departs without another word.

Finding yourself alone in the cottage, you wander over to examine the well-stocked shelves in Beatrice's kitchen. If you wish, you can help yourself to any of the following:

Healing Salve (backpack) 1 use, Use any time in combat to restore 6 Health.
Miracle Grow (backpack) 1 use, Use any time in combat to raise your brawn by 2 for one combat round.

You stuff the herbal mixtures into your backpack, then give Beatrice Fletcher a final nod of farewell. Return to the map and start a new quest.

Was there any route that got us permanent buffs?

Quest: Whatever the Weather

The midday heat is almost unbearable. You leave the dusty track and head into the cool dark woods, grateful for the shade. After resting beneath the tangled boughs of an ancient oak, you set off once again, keeping to the deep shadows cast by the trees. After a few minutes, you hear the rush and splash of water. Licking your parched lips, you head in its direction, quickly breaking into a run as the sound gets louder.

Slipping and sliding down a wooded slope, you find yourself on the banks of a river, its white waters churning around the rocks and stones that litter the river bed. Further up the bank you see a wooden cart and two women – who you guess are local farmers – filling a series of buckets with water from the river. Next to them, a skinny-looking mule sips greedily from the waters.

The women wave to you as you approach, and greet you cheerily. They explain that the local wells have run dry and now they must collect water from the river to nourish their crops and feed their livestock.

'Wouldn't be surprised if this here river doesn't dry up next,' says one of the women, carrying another full bucket to the wagon. 'This weather shows no signs of stopping. If only that darned weather wizard would get down from his tower and help, then we might see some signs of a turn.'

• Ask about the weather wizard?
• Help to fill the buckets?

Name: Trellis
Speed: +2, Brawn: +3, Magic: +2, Armor: +1
Health: 30
Necklace: Granny's Locket (+1 Magic)
Main Hand: The Apprentice (sword; +1 Brawn, +1 Magic)
Left Hand: Murder of Crows (fist weapon; +1 Speed, +1 Brawn)
Chest: Goblin Leathers (+1 Armor)
Feet: Buckled Boots (+1 Speed, +1 Brawn)
Backpack 1: Crocodile skin
Backpack 2: Goblin grog (2 uses): Use any time in combat to restore 4 health.
Backpack 3: Healing Salve (1 use): Use any time in combat to restore 6 Health.
Backpack 4: Miracle Grow (1 use): Use any time in combat to raise your brawn by 2 for one combat round.
Money Pouch: 8 Crowns