Lesser-Known Gamebooks: Sagas of the Demonspawn

[angelfromanotherpin]

As he turned his eyes away from the crystal, Fire*Wolf caught sight of a faint inscription cut into the rough pedestal on which the statue stood. It was difficult to read, but close inspection finally allowed him to make
out the wording. It was, to his surprise, a poem.

All ye who enter in this room
Have entered in the Crypts of Doom.
You search for Power, with vision bold
But I, a beggar, search for gold.
Your entrance will your exit be
Provided you can place the fee
Upon the crystal gem I hold.

Fire*Wolf scratched the stubble of his beard. The words were plain enough, but their meaning was cryptic. This was the entrance chamber and it had no fewer than five exits, all of them apparently unguarded. But even if they had been locked and barred, there was no way in which he could provide a fee in gold to place on the beggar's hand. Had he not been stripped of his possessions in preparation for the Ordeal?

Fire*Wolf stood up. He was not a patient man and he had more stomach for action than riddles. There were five open exits. He was not so naive as to imagine any one of them would lead him directly to the outside. But one must be the right route eventually. Which to choose . . .?

Which indeed! For convenience, we will number the exits 1 to 5, since any one looks much like any other. You must now choose for Fire*Wolf and may the gods guide your intuition.

• Exit 1?
• Exit 2?
• Exit 3?
• Exit 4?
• Exit 5?

[Starmaker]

Exit 4.

[MisterDee]

4.

[angelfromanotherpin]

I'm curious if there's any metagame reason to pick 4, or if it was random.

The corridor ran due south and carried Fire* Wolf directly to a closed, but unlocked doorway. Unlocked, that is, until he entered, when bolts automatically slammed in place behind him, sealing his escape.

He was in a great hall, empty except for a transparent crystal box set into the middle of the floor. There was no discernible exit, but within the box, Fire*Wolf could clearly see the outlines of a level - and a glittering golden coin. A brass plaque set into the stonework before the crystal box carried the following message:

READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

Unless the word and is used in the spelling of Xandine, scratch a circle on the floor, otherwise make that a square, except where the square root of 49 is less than 8 in which case add a line through whichever shape you drew in the first place and tap the crystal box the number of times represented by the letter G where A is 1 and finally, assuming C is three stamp whichever of your feet is represented by sixty-two a number of times equivalent to J+M on top of the box unless you can discover a single figure odd number which becomes an even number after you turn it upside down in which case subtract the even number from J+M and stamp that number of times, unless you drew a line through the figure you scratched in which case add the number to J+M and stamp that number plus 2.

Dear gods, could Fire*Wolf cope with that at all? Did he draw a square? Did he draw a circle? Did he scratch a line through it? And how many times did he knock? And how many times did he stamp? And which stupid foot did he use? Take your pick!

• Square/Line/Right Foot/Knock 7/Stamp 31?
• Square/No Line/Right Foot/Knock 7/Stamp 17?
• Square/No Line/Left Foot/Knock 7/Stamp 17?
• Circle/No Line/Right Foot/Knock 7/Stamp 17?
• Circle/Line/Right Foot/Knock 7/Stamp 31?
• Commit suicide?

[MisterDee]

In my case it was just to move to content faster by making sure there wasn't a tie.

No time to parse the clue though.

[Starmaker]

I'm curious if there's any metagame reason to pick 4, or if it was random.

Least conspicuous number. We're probably supposed to try the doors until we find a gold item and return. 1 would be too meta for... 1984, really? what, and also bad design (because trying the exits in order makes sense and the content behind 2 to 5 would be unlikely to be seen), 5 is "haha i'm so clever", 3 is conspicuously in the middle, and 2 is the next logical choice after 1.

Square, line, ???, knock 7, stamp 10 + 13 + 6 + 2 = 31

[SGamerz]

Square, line, ???, knock 7, stamp 10 + 13 + 6 + 2 = 31

Assuming you are right about the non-??? answers, then the only answer that matches is the first one.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Go with the first one.

[angelfromanotherpin]

The box opens, permitting Fire* Wolf to take the coin and pull the lever which opens up a secret exit.

The corridor ran downwards then rose in a confusion of levels until Fire*Wolf finally faced a closed door. Cautiously he tried the handle and, to his surprise, found it opened easily. He stepped through and found himself standing half way down a flight of familiar steps. The door itself closed quietly behind him and blended so perfectly with the stonework as to become invisible.

Fire*Wolf started downwards, convinced he knew where the staircase was leading. And he was right. Moments later, he had stepped out into the chamber with the beggar's statue. Half running in his excitement, he deposited the gold coin on the outstretched hand, taking care not to touch the glowing crystal directly. At once the coin vanished in a flash of pale blue light.

The statue spoke!

'You have paid my fee, Adventurer,' it intoned in a voice that suggested some mechanical contrivance. 'Thus is the magic nullified and you may leave by any exit in the knowledge that it will carry you safely beyond this place. But first I must speak to you of POWER.

The coin you have donated has accumulated for you no more than twenty points of POWER. If this gives you sufficient for your goals, then leave now with my blessing. But if you wish to accumulate more POWER then the Ordeal must continue. So choose now, Adventurer—exit or Ordeal!'

Some choice! Bear in mind, the magic of the Crypts will not permit Fire*Wolf to visit any section he has previously entered.
• Leave the Crypts?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 1?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 2?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 3?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 4?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 5?

[Starmaker]

Ordeal and exit 5. I suspect the final result will be our magic stat.

[MisterDee]

I mean, it's POWER. Let's go for the full 100.

Take 5.

[angelfromanotherpin]

The corridor ran south before branching south east. Fire*Wolf followed it with increasing impatience until, to his surprise, it opened into what he could only think to be a boudoir.

In the middle of the richly carpeted floor was an ornate four-poster bed. In the bed was a woman of dark good looks who smiled and beckoned him towards her. Fire*Wolf stepped forward and the door of the chamber closed silently behind him.

This is, despite appearances, one of the most dangerous tests our hero will ever face. It is a test of his ATTRACTION. Throw two dice and multiply the result by eight to find the test figure. Compare this with his ATTRACTION statistic. If the figure you have just thrown is lower, then the woman in the bed will make love to our hero and present him with a gold coin for his efforts. If the figure you have thrown is higher, the woman will still make love to him, but at the moment of satisfaction will be transformed into a gigantic Black Widow spider. Those who know the mating habits of Black Widows will not be surprised to learn this means, for poor Fire* Wolf, 13.

(8*8<88, we succeed!)

13 is the death reference, which the author supposes we'll be familiar with by this point. More relevantly, the author cold forgot to give us an exit reference for success! Some brief checking tells me that we're probably meant to go back to the statue room.

The corridor ran downwards then rose in a confusion of levels until Fire*Wolf finally faced a closed door. Cautiously he tried the handle and, to his surprise, found it opened easily. He stepped through and found himself standing half way down a flight of familiar steps. The door itself closed quietly behind him and blended so perfectly with the stonework as to become invisible.

Fire*Wolf started downwards, convinced he knew where the staircase was leading. And he was right. Moments later, he had stepped out into the chamber with the beggar's statue. Half running in his excitement, he deposited the gold coin on the outstretched hand, taking care not to touch the glowing crystal directly. At once the coin vanished in a flash of pale blue light.

The statue spoke!

'You have paid my fee, Adventurer,' it intoned in a voice that suggested some mechanical contrivance. 'Thus is the magic nullified and you may leave by any exit in the knowledge that it will carry you safely beyond this place. But first I must speak to you of POWER.

The coin you have donated has accumulated for you no more than twenty points of POWER. If this gives you sufficient for your goals, then leave now with my blessing. But if you wish to accumulate more POWER then the Ordeal must continue. So choose now, Adventurer—exit or Ordeal!'

Some choice! Bear in mind, the magic of the Crypts will not permit Fire*Wolf to visit any section he has previously entered.
• Leave the Crypts?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 1?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 2?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 3?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 4?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 5?

[Starmaker]

I mean, it's POWER. Let's go for the full 100.

This, and exit 3 now.

[Omegonthesane]

Agreed.

Though, having to pass a hotness check to become a better sorcerer seems a bit off.

[SGamerz]

Take all the POWER!

3

[Darth Rabbitt]

Though, having to pass a hotness check to become a better sorcerer seems a bit off.

A lot of DMs portray Charisma as the "hotness" stat and Charisma literally makes you a better sorcerer in D&D.

In any case go to 3.

[angelfromanotherpin]

The corridor ran east, then turned abruptly south. Fire*Wolf followed it until he reached the entrance of an elongated chamber. In the middle of the floor was a single glittering gold piece. But between Fire*Wolf and the gold was the most sinister mechanism he had ever seen...

Swinging from the ceiling of the chamber were three huge pendulums, each equipped with a shining, razor sharp, double-edged metal blade. The pendulums were set some twenty feet apart and their rate of swing differed slightly one from the other so that at no time was there a clear passage through.

Fortunately, just inside the doorway he had entered and well clear of the pendulums was a lever with two settings, one clearly marked ON, the other OFF. Fire*Wolf stepped inside and pushed the lever to the OFF position. The blades continued to swing, but the door behind him slammed shut, trapping him. But at least he could now see, beyond the blades, an open exit.

But how to reach it? SPEED would seem to be the only answer, yet the calculations of success or failure are by no means simple. Obviously we begin with Fire*Wolf's SPEED figure. Equally obviously, we must roll dice on behalf of the blades. We may rest assured that if a blade does strike him on his run he will be instant macedoine. (And go to 13.) Now roll two dice on behalf of the blades and multiply the result by eight. Check Fire*Wolf's SPEED figure, then use the following table to make comparisons:

Fire*Wolf's SPEED	Blades strike on
90-96	85+
80-89	75+
70-79	65+
60-69	55+
50-59	45+
40-49	35+
30-39	25+
20-29	15+
<20	Certain hit

• If Fire*Wolf survives, he takes the coin in passing and proceed to the exit.
• Otherwise...

I have to say that this is a situation where multiplying the die roll by 8 is completely pointless. The result isn't being directly compared with the pseudo-percentile stat, and there's a resolution table anyway! It could easily just be noted as 11+, 10+, etc. and save us all a little time. It would also make it hard to miss that 15+ is also a certain hit since 2x8>15.

Unfortunately, the roll was 9, which would have caught a significantly faster Fire*Wolf than ours.

Thus died the hero Fire*Wolf.

But perhaps the word 'died' is inaccurate, for the universe - Fire*Wolf's universe - is a mysterious place, full of strange possibilities. One such possibility is reincarnation.

Any reader finding himself or herself at this section may take the opportunity to create a new (and hopefully better) Fire*Wolf by returning to the introductory pages of this book and rolling up new characteristics for him. Once recreated, Fire*Wolf may be reborn at the beginning of his great adventure, lacking SKILL but not the knowledge he has gained. This knowledge will obviously allow him to retrace his steps quickly, avoiding past mistakes, exploring possibilities he ignored on his former journeying.

Thus died Fire*Wolf.

But his death was a new beginning.

All of which is an overly poetic way of saying start over from the beginning. It's a shame, I was pretty happy with this version of our main character, who at least resembled the in-text descriptions reasonably well. (I actually think it's super-weird that you're allowed to have a low strength stat while the text frequently insists that you're mighty-thewed and whatnot.)

Is there a particular choice-not-taken juncture y'all want to explore? If not, I'll plop the new model back in the statue room after completing the exit 4 logic puzzle.

[MisterDee]

Quick suggestion: instead let's have a retcon where Fire*Wolf looked at the blades, then at his character sheet, and said "Nope." and returned to the central room without that coin.

Then go to Exit 1.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Quick suggestion: instead let's have a retcon where Fire*Wolf looked at the blades, then at his character sheet, and said "Nope." and returned to the central room without that coin.

Then go to Exit 1.

I'll agree with this.

[angelfromanotherpin]

I will allow this cheatery.

He stepped into a narrow corridor which ran northeast for little more than thirty feet before turning due east. At first he hesitated, not liking the confined space or the low level of the light, but then it occurred to him that there was little he could do if attacked by some creature here. The Doomsword, as Xandine had predicted, was no longer with him. He had neither arms nor armour, only his wits and skill. It might not prove enough, but it was all he had.

Fire*Wolf took a deep breath and strode onwards. The eastern corridor took him to the entrance of a chamber twenty foot square, empty of furnishings, empty of everything else in fact except for a solitary gold coin glinting in the middle of the floor. At the far side of the chamber was an open exit.

Without hesitation, Fire*Wolf stepped inside. At once, the ceiling high above crashed down upon him, seeming in that heart-stopping instant to be set to squash him like an insect on the floor. Instinctively, Fire*Wolf threw himself flat - and to his profound relief, the downward plunge of the ceiling halted no more than four feet above his head.

But the relief was short-lived, for now Fire*Wolf saw that as the ceiling had come down, so thick metal bars has risen from the floor to seal both his entrance and exit. What now?

He crawled to the exit (with enough presence of mind to take the gold coin from the floor) and tested the bars. They were firmly imbedded, but he thought he might have just enough strength to bend them. He determined to try. It was, after all, his only hope.

But has he enough STRENGTH? Only you can tell. Roll two dice and multiply the result by eight. Compare this total with our hero's STRENGTH figure.

• If his STRENGTH figure is higher...
• Otherwise, he rots.

The roll is actually a 2, and our canonically-high strength is excessively up to the task.

The corridor ran downwards then rose in a confusion of levels until Fire*Wolf finally faced a closed door. Cautiously he tried the handle and, to his surprise, found it opened easily. He stepped through and found himself standing half way down a flight of familiar steps. The door itself closed quietly behind him and blended so perfectly with the stonework as to become invisible.

Fire*Wolf started downwards, convinced he knew where the staircase was leading. And he was right. Moments later, he had stepped out into the chamber with the beggar's statue. Half running in his excitement, he deposited the gold coin on the outstretched hand, taking care not to touch the glowing crystal directly. At once the coin vanished in a flash of pale blue light.

The statue spoke!

'You have paid my fee, Adventurer,' it intoned in a voice that suggested some mechanical contrivance. 'Thus is the magic nullified and you may leave by any exit in the knowledge that it will carry you safely beyond this place. But first I must speak to you of POWER.

The coin you have donated has accumulated for you no more than twenty points of POWER. If this gives you sufficient for your goals, then leave now with my blessing. But if you wish to accumulate more POWER then the Ordeal must continue. So choose now, Adventurer—exit or Ordeal!'

Some choice! Bear in mind, the magic of the Crypts will not permit Fire*Wolf to visit any section he has previously entered.
• Leave the Crypts?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 1?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 2?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 3?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 4?
• Choose to continue the Ordeal taking exit 5?

[Omegonthesane]

Exit 2, since we're assuming Fire*Wolf rejected 3.

[SGamerz]

Exit 2, since we're assuming Fire*Wolf rejected 3.

This

[angelfromanotherpin]

The corridor ran north west before turning directly west. Fire*Wolf followed it with considerable trepidation until it ended in a wooden door. Half expecting it to be locked, he tried the handle, and found it opened easily.

He was in a large rectangular chamber with a single exit. Set at intervals along the floor were six metal-bound wooden chests. Near them lay a huge crystal die, each face almost a foot square, the numbering picked out in ruby inlay: a magical artifact if ever Fire*Wolf saw one.

He tried the chests and found he could not open them. He tried the exit door and found it locked. He returned to the door through which he had entered and found it too barred against him.

After a moment, Fire*Wolf picked up the crystal die...

No, it doesn't explode or otherwise incapacitate him. It is, in fact, the key to his Ordeal of Luck. Roll one (non-crystal) die on his behalf to determine if he survives the present ordeal.

The roll is 3.

The lid of the third chest flew open. Simultaneously, and with frightening precision, the remaining chests disappeared, flickering out of existence like a candleflame in a sudden gust of wind. Fire*Wolf looked into the remaining chest.

It was empty.

No reward for Fire* Wolf here. He will, however, now find he can open the exit door. The corridor beyond will carry him to the chamber of the statue, from whence he may choose a new exit he has not previously taken, or choose to return to the chamber of the crystal die and chests.

So this trial is repeatable if we want, at least for now.

• Count our blessings and leave with what POWER we have?
• Press our luck with a re-roll?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Quit while we're ahead.

[MisterDee]

Agreed. We'll make do with 60 power.