[Let's Play] Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebook 6: Castle of Lost Souls

[Thaluikhain]

Oh, we've gone from the thorn in the paw to a variation of knights and knaves. Only we've no guarantee that there is one of each, and all the information we've got came from the same goblin. And we should be able to tell if we are going to a canyon or a swamp before we get there.

This is not how this is supposed to work, unless they are deliberately playing with our expectations.

[Darth Rabbitt]

So the second one says the first one is the kabbagoo (and thus the liar.) If the first one was the liar, they wouldn’t say that they were, so the second one is the liar. Go right.

[Thaluikhain]

Oh, right, I totally missed that, go right.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go right, based on the information before me, as much as I despise embracing fascism.

[SGamerz]

The trail takes you down out of the hills. Ahead of you the horizon is lost in a blur of mist. Realizing that it will be difficult to find dry wood with which to start a campfire in the dank swampland, you gather kindling as you descend the trail.

When you reach the low lying moors and marshes of Bosh you progress is slowed considerably, for you have to make your way around tracts of treacherous mire. The tendrils of mist are like fingers groping round the silhouetted shapes of bent and deformed trees. Out of the corner of your eye you catch sight of something - a crystal ball, just off the path to your left! It looks unsettlingly like the one you should have in your backpack. Will you go over to the crystal ball to examine it, check that the original ball is still in your backpack, or simply walk on?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to check to see if Johnny still has the ball.

[SGamerz]

As you open your backpack, a thick bank of fog engulfs you, obscuring your vision for a moment. When you look into the pack, you discover that the items you collected to deal with the demon have gone! You crouch dejectedly by your open backpack. What will you do now - go back and tell Jasper that the mists stole your items, or walk on?

[Thaluikhain]

Walk on.

[JourneymanN00b]

Sigh ... I vote to walk on.

[SGamerz]

You have gone on only about a hundred metres when you suddenly come upon all your missing equipment. It is lying in a neat pile directly in front of you. Delighted at this happy change in your fortunes, you gather up the items and replace them in your backpack before continuing on your way with a spring in your step and a merry tune on your lips.

The mist's fingers poke and pry, stroke and search, around your backpack. You realize that the mist itself is like an entity - a wraith which creates illusions to try and trick you. You are not fooled.

Since it is now getting late you start to look around for somewhere to make camp. You soon find a patch of high ground that is fairly dry. Using the wood you collected earlier, you soon have a good fire going. After a light supper you settle down and go to sleep.

You come awake suddenly. Hours have passed - the fire is just glowing embers now. Creatures are stirring in the darkness all around you. Slowly you sit up, Your camp is surrounded by hordes of Marshons - small, hairless leathery creatures with webbed hands and large, lidless eyes. They have been attracted by your fire and the starlight glimmering off your sword, which is skewered in the ground beside you. Marshons usually see only the dull sludge greens and greys of the swamp, so they are instantly drawn by light and colour. They move around you like moths around a candle. From what you have heard they eat only fungus and swampweed - but nonetheless you are in the most deadly peril for, if they press forward towards the light, you will be smothered and crushed by the countless hundreds of them. What will you do? You may toss your sword away in the hope that they will scurry after it, or light your lantern, or - if you have one - you could use a Ring of Light.

Ok, now that's a kind of threat you don't see too often in these books...

How do we deal with this?

[Thaluikhain]

We have a ring of light, so use that.

And I like that, that's novel.

[SGamerz]

You hold forth the ring and cause it to emit a brilliant flare. The Marshons clutch at their huge eyes and fall back whimpering, blinded by the light. They scurry off into the safety of the darkness.

You drift back off to sleep and pass the rest of the night in comfort - except for the clouds of gnats and the occasional far-off howl of a moorland monster. You wake at dawn. If you are wounded, add 1 point to your current VIGOUR score for the rest. You eat a hearty breakfast and then press on deeper into Bosh.

The only point of VIGOUR we lost, alas, cannot be regained this way...

As you walk on, a few tendrils of mist return to swirl about you. You do not mind now; the mist is almost like an old travelling companion. Certainly, it uses no more illusions . . .

Then, in the distance, you see the Castle of Lost Souls. Unless it is another of the mist's apparitions, it cannot be more than a few miles away! You head towards it. However, when you look up again after going only a few hundred yards, you find that the castle is no longer straight ahead of you. You walk towards it for almost an hour, keeping your eyes on it the whole time, but you do not seem to be getting any closer. Presumably the demon Slank has set enchantments around his castle to keep unwelcome visitors away, so what will you do now? If you wish to just continue marching towards the castle, keeping your eyes fixed on it continually so it does not change location again, turn to 91. If you wish to use an item from your backpack, turn to 62. If you would like to try something else, turn to 138.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Try something else.

[JourneymanN00b]

I don't think there is anything we can use from the backpack for this, so I vote to try something else.

[SGamerz]

You could try heading for the castle by an indirect route - either to the right or left of where it actually seems to be. You could try closing your eyes and heading on blindly in the direction you last saw it. Or you could use an item from your backpack.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go left of where it actually seems to be, as Johnny needs to take a clear stand against fascism in order to prevail.

[SGamerz]

Just to clarify: "heading by indirect route" is one single option here. There's no separate choice to go left or right here. The other options are to literally go blindly by your eyes closed or using an item.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to head by an indirect route then.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Indirect route.

[SGamerz]

After almost an hour you have still not got any closer to your destination. It is obviously time to try something else, and you search in your backpack for inspiration.

It's the wrong option, but at least there's no apparent penalty besides wasting a section...

Which of your items will you use? Perhaps the four leaf clover, the little girl's teardrop or the gypsy's crystal ball.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Crystal ball seems the most likely to help.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to use the crystal ball.

[SGamerz]

When you gaze at the castle through the crystal ball, a shimmering path of green light is visible leading through the swamp. Holding the crystal ball in front of your eyes, you make your way along the path. You have been walking for only a few minutes, intent on the ground where you tread, when you notice a dark shape looming ahead. You glance up from the crystal ball and almost drop it in shock. You are at the castle gates.

You stand at the very threshold of the Castle of Lost Souls. The mists of the swamp seem to shrink away from it. Its presence is awesome - you cannot grasp any sense of its size; it seems endless, eternal...The walls tower dizzyingly above you into the glowering, slate-grey sky. Perhaps in the castle's unreal and inhuman architecture you glean something of the twisted mind of its master, the demon Slank. The darkened slits of windows stare menacingly out across the silent marshlands. You notice a twinkling light. A solitary candle burns in one of the windows - to the left of the doorway, apparently on the first floor. All else is shrouded in darkness.

The castle is not guarded; none of the tortured souls that enter ever leaves. With weapon in hand you advance slowly across the drawbridge. You reach out - does your hand tremble just a little now? - and push open the heavy mahogany door.

You step into a shadowy, cloistered hallway that reeks of funeral incense. All is bathed in the guttering, smoky light of myriad black candles. A wide staircase leads up to the first floor. Over to one side of the hallway you see double doors carved with arabesque designs. Will you open the doors, or proceed up the stairs?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to open the doors.

[SGamerz]

Beyond the double doors you see a dimly lit room. A pine torch burns in a bracket on the wall. The same heavy incense you noticed before lingers here. At the far end of the room you can just make out a darkened archway. There is blackness beyond. Will you return to the hallway and go upstairs, or cross the room to the archway?