[Let's Play] Virtual Reality Gamebooks: Green Blood

[Darth Rabbitt]

Judging from your manners and bearing, the guard has no reason to doubt you, and deferentially leads you to the pavilion. You step inside and introduce yourself to an important-looking man--the Chief of the Westermen--sitting at a large oak table strewn with scrolls and maps. A balding corpulent man, his eyes seem to gleam with greed.
His eyes show a vague flicker of recognition, and you hope wits will see you through this meeting. For now, however, there seems to be little to worry about. The chief invites you to look at the master map which shows the whole Forest of Arden. A broad swathe of brown has recently been painted across the green of the forest and a red point marks each of the Westermen encampments which are eating into the forest. The chief waves his broad hand across the map, showing where they are going to wreak devastation and havoc next. Right in the centre of the triangle made by the Bonehill, a small pool with an ancient-looking Greenbark tree drawn on it has been carefully painted in.
You can ask him about the Tree of Knowledge, why the chief is despoiling the forest, or if there is ever any trouble among the slaves or his own men.

[Omegonthesane]

Ask about the tree of knowledge. Pretty sure we know enough about why he's despoiling the forest, and opening with "trouble among the slaves" seems suspicious.

[SGamerz]

Tree

[Darth Rabbitt]

The chief does not seem surprised you want to talk about what he calls the Tree of Life. He has been thinking about it himself a great deal. It seems he can't make up his mind whether to believe what Valerian the Moon Druid has told him. Valerian maintains the Tree of Life is the core of the elves' immortality. He counsels the chief to destroy the tree.
The chief is still talking animatedly when Valerian himself is ushered into the pavilion and announced by a guard. He is still wearing an all-enveloping black robe but its hood is thrown back to reveal his hatchet-like features and black goatee beard.
'It is Valerian the Moon Druid, sire. He says he has important news. Shall we let him come in?'
'Aye, let him.' The speech of the Westermen is guttural and uncouth-sounding but you can understand their dialect.
It is the man you first saw in the inn at Burg. He bows before the chief, then wrinkles his nose and stares in your general direction.
'I have driven off the tree bears, you will have no more trouble from them.' He sniffs again and moves his head from side to side while fixing his gaze just above your head, giving him a most comical air. The chief spreads out the map of the forest and his advisers gather round, almost blocking your exit.
Despite the risk, you wait to see if you can find out what they are planning.

Valerian's voice is markedly different from the guttural speech of the Westermen, but there is no doubt that he has thrown in his lot with them. It is plain they depend upon him for their knowledge of the forest and its many dangers. They are planning how to destroy and burn the whole forest tree by tree. Valerian has convinced the Chief of the Westermen that his realm will not be safe until every tree, every sapling and every bush in the forest has been razed to the ground.
'You wanted to tell me something of note, Valerian? Else why have I summoned all my advisers?'
'Indeed, sire, I have a plan to destroy the forest at a stroke.'
'What stroke?'
'By killing the Tree of Life at the very centre of the forest. Slay the Tree of Life, sire, and the whole forest, along with everything in it, will die.'
'Well, your advice has been sound in the past, Valerian. I will do as you suggest and slay the Tree of Life.'
Write the codeword Bullhorn on your Adventure Sheet.
Do you want to interrupt and tell the chief that the death of the forest will mean death and destruction for the whole world, including him or do you wish to sneak out of the pavilion and leave while the going is good?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: ??
Skills: CUNNING, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and WILDERNESS LORE
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Wand
2) Maple Flute
3) Emerald Ring
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Money: 9 gold pieces
Codewords: Bullhorn, Crabclaw, Scorpion

[Omegonthesane]

Sneak out while the going is good.

It sure sounds like we're meant to be able to approach the forest with the Bullhorn key word. So I wouldn't be shook if there's a route there from this section.

[Thaluikhain]

Sounds good, run away. Also, this guy need to carefully plan how to set fire to a forest?

[SGamerz]

We got the codeword, our work is done, time to go.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Once you are a safe distance from the pavilion, you run for the edge of the trees, quickly hiding yourself in the depths of the forest. The awful sights and sounds of the Westerman camp are soon fare behind.
(We do not have the two codewords Waterbearer and Bullhorn on our Adventure Sheet.)
You can head west, east, south-west, or south from here.

(So we can loop back to the elves from here. Want to just fast forward through that and assume we reach them and don't give the ring back this time?)

[Omegonthesane]

Loop back to the elves, keep the ring.

[SGamerz]

Want to just fast forward through that and assume we reach them and don't give the ring back this time?)

Yes.

[Darth Rabbitt]

So fast forwarding, we don't give Eldring his ring back this time:

You shake your head. ‘Better that I retain it for now. If we are to be allies, what better token that I fight for the elves than that their king has entrusted me with his royal symbol?’
He knows you have guessed him aright. If you had returned the ring, the elves would no doubt have found some way to back out of their bargain. Now they are bound to fight beside you, and your carefully chosen words allow the king to accede to this without losing his dignity. His eyes show a flicker of grudging admiration as he says, ‘Well spoken, mortal. Now let us feast and discuss our plans.’
Note the Elf King’s ring among your possessions.

The Elf King tells you there are about twelve thousand elves here in the forest, and a very few spread across the rest of the world who are too far away to be reached in time.
Write the codeword Waterbearer on your Adventure Sheet. (We have the codeword Bullhorn.)

Later, seated in a ring with the elven elders, you are planning your defence of the Tree of Life when a messenger runs into the clearing and bows to the king. 'The Westermen are moving, sire, in two columns. They are heading for the Tree of Life--more men than there are ants in a Gwelph tree.'
'How long will they take to reach the Tree of Life?' you ask.
'Three days, perhaps four, no more.'
'How long will it take for you to marshal all your elves?' you ask anxiously.
He returns a bleak time-haunted look. 'A week; it can't be done in less. The forest is so large...'
You must think of a way of delaying the Westermen until the elves are ready.
(We have the codeword Scorpion on our Adventure Sheet.)

You know without doubt that your best plan is to call upon the dragon that has promised its help. Certain in the knowledge that it will obey you, you set off for the Bonehill to enlist its help.
The journey passes swiftly with the help of an elf to guide you, and you are soon at the dragon's lair. You call out its name...

'Great Garoshtar, aid me now. Listen to and respect your friends' wishes--the forest needs your help.
Garoshtar's great head rises slowly above you and his red eyes bore into yours.
'I need your help now, Garoshtar., The Westermen are marching to uproot the Tree of Life.'
The dragon is ready to bear you and to frighten the Westermen into the bargain. You ask him to attack the head of the Westermen columns as thy advance, to give time for the King of the Elves to muster all his available forces. You climb onto Garoshtar's back and sit just in front of the great taut wings that beat the air like mainsails close-rigged in a storm.
You can remain astride Garoshtar's back while he attacks the Westermen or get him to deliver you to Elvenhame before making his attack.

Adventure Sheet:

Name: ??
Skills: CUNNING, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and WILDERNESS LORE
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Wand
2) Maple Flute
3) Emerald Ring
4) Elf King's Ring
5)
6)
7)
8)
Money: 9 gold pieces
Codewords: Bullhorn, Crabclaw, Scorpion, Waterbearer

[SGamerz]

We don't have the combat skills to be of much help in the thick of the battle. Let's stick to being the commander who leads from the headquarters.

[Omegonthesane]

Contrariwise, we have SPELLS. Given that we intend to fight on the back of a literal dragon, which would give us a ground clearance far longer than any sword even if it were walking, I figure that's going to be more useful than any combat skill except ARCHERY.

Which is to say: one vote to ride a dragon.

I am also curious what happens if we get the elves on side before we get Bullhorn, and it's the kind of question I'll forget to ask if there's an end-of-book round up.

[Thaluikhain]

Half vote for being on a dragon, because it's not something you get to do everyday.

[Zaranthan]

You can't fight fate, and we saw ourselves riding the dragon into battle. It's dragoon time!

[Darth Rabbitt]

I am also curious what happens if we get the elves on side before we get Bullhorn, and it's the kind of question I'll forget to ask if there's an end-of-book round up.

Since neither you nor the elves know the Westermen's attack plan you can either go in to spy on them (leads to what we did) or attempt an attack of your own which is a game over.

Garoshtar sights one of the columns of men that are blundering their way through the forest, flattening trees and bushes as they go. There are thousands of soldiers, most of them sweating inside chain armour. Near the front is a contingent of three hundred crossbowmen, all dressed in the same mail and uniform, obviously mercenaries. There is no sign of any infernal machines with this column.
You can ask Garoshtar to search out the second column the elven scouts saw advancing upon the Tree of Life or to attack these men while they are vulnerable in a clearing.

[Zaranthan]

These dupes are just gonna march through all that underbrush? They won't even reach the tree before we slaughter the smart ones. Go find the second column.

[Omegonthesane]

Search the second column/

[Darth Rabbitt]

Garoshtar's great body puts the men in shadow for a moment as he swoops overhead and you are satisfied to see the soldiers below like helpless little ants on the forest floor. (We do not have AGILITY.)
Garoshtar swoops low, his wings cracking down at the last moment as he swings his head and breathes on the leading company of soldiers, sending a cloud of poisonous gas and acid roiling about them. His wings crack against the air as he struggles to gain height skimming the treetops. The mercenaries let loose their crossbows as one and Garoshtar is stuck like a pincushion. The dragon convulses in mid air, throwing you off his back and you impale yourself on a branch of the tree below. The forest is doomed.

We actually screwed ourselves over as soon as we opted to ride on Garoshtar without AGILITY (attacking the men leads to the same outcome.)

So I'll rewind and assume we don't ride Garoshtar this time around:

You wait in Elvenhame until the elven scouts report on Garoshtar's success. They tell you that the great dragon has attacked the Westermen and set them back in confusion. After many attacks, however, he was wounded by many crossbow quarrels and forced to land and sleep so he could heal himself. He has won you precious time, however, and the defence of the Tree of Life is now set in hand.

This is basically where having AGILITY while riding Garoshtar would have put us.

By the time you are directed to where the King of the Elves is preparing the defences, he is in position with his elven army in the trees around the Tree of Life itself.
The forest falls still. There are thousands of elves in the trees around the clearing but they make no sound. Even the animals and birds have fallen unnaturally silent. You look around and savor the beauty of this enchanted place, the fountain of all life. This may well be the last chance you ever have to revel in the natural glory of the Forest of Arden.
The sun breaks through the rolling clouds and bathes the clearing in brilliant light. The trumpets of the tree lilies swing round to greet the sun. You expect to hear the elves cheer at this good omen, but they remain grimly silent.
The oppressive din of the tramping of feet of thousands of thousands of enemies grows inexorably closer. There is a crack like a firecracker as a tree is split and knocked to the ground by the passing of one of the great metallic monsters.

A faint hissing can be heard above the heavy tramp of feet. The thick trees dampen sound so they must be very close. The Elf King and his subjects are ready in the branches with their bows. A few of the bravest elves gather around you beneath the great Greenbark trees. The Westermen have come to the Tree of Life. The fate of the whole world hangs in the balance. The hissing of their infernal engines grows louder, a foreign unnatural sound, a desecration of nature. Birds fly up from their path and the animals of the forest run in panic from the clanging metal monstrosities. The two columns of men are converging on the tree at the same time from opposite directions.
Will you stand your ground before the main column from which the hissing and clanging sounds come? Or will you make a stand first against the soldiers and crossbowmen in the smaller column?

[SGamerz]

That hissing and clanging is probably the mechanical "smoking man" that we saw in the vision. Let's go deal with it since we're probably needed there. The elves can probably deal with any human crossbowmen themselves since like all modern fantasy elves they're probably expert archers.

[Omegonthesane]

Seconded. Deal with the hissing and clanging.

[Thaluikhain]

Hissing and clanging things seem more interesting anyway, look for that.

[Zaranthan]

Go bash the bots.

[Darth Rabbitt]

You stand your ground bravely and the elves are ready to fight beside you, hidden in the trees, from where they can shoot with deadly accuracy. A group of men surrounded by shieldbearers shuffle forward and hew down two great trees at the edge of the clearing. The air is alive with the whine and whoosh of the elven arrow shafts, many of which find their mark with uncanny accuracy, but whenever a Westerman is dropped to the floor two others take his place in the struggle to bring their engine of destruction to bear.
There is a groan of splitting wood matched by one from the elves as the beautiful trees crash to the ground: the Infernal Statue is revealed in all its terrifying metallic splendour.

The Westermen fall back behind their weapon of destruction and the shieldbearers cluster around the statue itself, behind which a great cylinder on huge wheels hisses and steams. The massive boiler is connected to the armoured statue by a hose. Suddenly a plume of steam rises out of the top of the statue's helmet with a shriek like a banshee, and its face, which had been resting on its huge iron chest, slowly rises to look at the tree. There is a great roar from the Westermen. They look upon this thing with awe. It is their talisman, a moving demonstration of their invulnerability. Its powers to wreak havoc must be terrifying if a whole army of cruel slavers like the Westermen look upon it with such reverence.
Looking around you you see a look of bewilderment in the faces of the brave elves. No man can daunt them but nothing has prepared them to face this awful apparition from the underworld. Perhaps if you show the lead they will rally but for this moment at least you must face this Infernal Statue alone.

The statue is shaped like a man, bearing a ten-foot sword and clad head to toe in plate armour. Steam hisses out of vents behind its ears giving it a supernatural horror. The hose which joins it to the great boiler snakes out across the grass behind it, slithering on as the Infernal Statue takes slow strides towards the Tree of Life with the great sword held high.
You can rush between it and the Tree of Life or wait to see what it will do.

(I find it a bit strange that the Infernal Statue is carrying an axe in both the cover illustration and the interior when it's supposedly carrying a "ten-foot sword" in the text. The axe does look better than a sword probably would though.)

[Omegonthesane]

Rush between it and the tree. If we're lucky we have relevant SPELLS.