[Let's Play] ACE Gamebooks - Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu - What Dreams May Come

[deaddmwalking]

The Nays have it, 1.0 to 0.05.

184

“But what is your affair in Elsinore?” she asks. “Are you with the Players?”

How will you reply this time?

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Turn to 194.

“My dearest queen, the strong necessity of time commands our services awhile.” Turn to 143.

[Beroli]

Hm, should we quote the play we're in, or Antony and Cleopatra.

I'll vote for the latter option.

[Thaluikhain]

We might be being quizzed on our quote knowledge. But, ok, try the latter as I don't know what the book is going for.

[deaddmwalking]

Just an unusually busy week here...

143

“The time is out of joint,” the Queen says guardedly.

“O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!” you mu􀀪er under your breath.

Turn to 170.

170

“I am given, sir, secretly to understand,” she says, her voice suddenly barely more than a whisper, “that ere the bat hath flown his cloister’d flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons the shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done a deed of dreadful note.”

Tick off the Stage Direction Good Mother and turn to 312.

312

You suddenly hear a cough from behind you and turn, but there is no one in the Queen’s audience chamber other than you and Gertrude. There is only a dusty old arras hanging on the wall. The tapestry depicts a bucolic scene, showing nymphs and satyrs dancing in a ring around a masked figure clad all in yellow.

“How now! a rat?” you say. “Rats in the walls?”

The hairs stand up on the back of your neck as an icy fear crawls up your spine, and you instinctively draw your blade.

Take a Madness test. If you pass the test, turn to 128. If you fail the test, turn to 236.

Current Madness: 4 Roll: 8 (5,3) Success!

128

“What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?” cries the Queen, suddenly overwhelmed by panic as you whip the air with your blade.

“Help, help, ho!”

“What, ho! help, help, help!” comes a voice from behind the arras. It is that of an old man, turning again toward childish treble.
To pull back the arras and see who is hiding there, turn to 173. If you would prefer to thrust your blade through the wall-hanging, rather than risk another person discovering your presence here, turn to 236.



*********************
I mean, you should do whatever you want, here, but I have a feeling someone would say, This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

William Shakespeare
Agility: 10 [10]
Combat: 10 [11*] (includes +1 from sword)
Endurance: 15 [15]
Madness: 4
Meals: 0
Where There's a Will: 3 [4]
The Pen is Mightier: 3 [3]
Props: Doublet & Hose, Quill, Manuscript, Breastplate (50% chance to reduce damage by 1 point), Sword, Cloak, Pack, Pnakotic Scroll, skull
Stage Directions Obtained: An Evil Sign; Fortune's Fool; Good Mother; Graves All Gaping Wide; Guilty Mind; Star-Cross'd; Strange Fellow;
Stage Directions Possible to Acquire: A Flattering Tongue; A Most Exquisite Lady; An Armed Head; Book of Riddles; Cunning Man; Double, Double Toil and Trouble; Dreadful Minister; Exit, Pursued by a Bear; Fell and Wrath; Foul Fiend; Give No Words But Mum; Give't to thy Crone; His Commandment; Horned Man; Ignoble Traitor; Instinct is a Great Matter; Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me?; King of Infinite Space; Knavish Sprite; Maiden Pilgrimage; Murder Most Foul; My Honour'd Lady; My Verse Astonished; Prince of Cats; Servant-Monster; Speak the Speech; The Charmed Pot; The Ides of March; The Spirit of Banquo; The Worst Rank of Manhood; Unspeakable Deserts; Yellow Gold; Yellow Hue; Yellow Melancholy; Yellow Sands

[Beroli]

Ah, here we have the chance to accidentally murder someone in Hamlet's place. Let's not. Pull back the curtain.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, pull back the curtain.

[deaddmwalking]

173

Hiding behind the wall-hanging is an elderly gentleman, wearing a fur-lined, floor-length robe and a velvet cap. Seeing your drawn steel his eyes widen in alarm.

“Murder! Murder most foul!” he cries.

For a moment you consider running him through. But when one so great begins to rage, he’s hunted even to falling. So, you sheathe your blade, turn on your heel, and quit the Queen’s closet.

Turn to 210.


218

Continuing to make your way through the castle, you soon find yourself in the inner ward again, and join the people of the court and honoured guests who are processing through a grand set of double doors into the Great Hall of the castle. Standing to one side of the ward, out of the way, is the Players’ cart. The itinerant actors must be about to put on their performance.

There does not appear to be anyone watching the wagon. If you want to take a peek inside, turn to 230. If you would prefer to join the line of people entering the Great Hall, turn to 218.

[Beroli]

Take a peek inside.

[Thaluikhain]

Peek inside.

[deaddmwalking]

230

Mounting the fold-down steps at the back of the covered wagon, you pull aside a creamy cloth and step inside. Despite the performers having set up for their performance already, the cart still seems full of costumes and props.

Among them is a white, featureless mask with openings for the eyes, nose, and mouth that stands out due to its lack of ornamentation. If you want to take a closer look at the mask, turn to 137. Otherwise, turn to 166.

[Beroli]

Avoid the mask.

[Thaluikhain]

Hmm, I'd vote to check out random things, but half vote to avoid tie.

[deaddmwalking]

166

Among the pieces of scenery inside the wagon is an arch. A construction of wood and cloth, it has been painted with a thick render to make it look like it is made from stone. A black cloth hung across the back hides whatever lies beyond it. It is a versatile piece that could be put to all manner of purposes by the Players.

The arch stands upright at the far end of the wagon and you wonder what other items might lie hidden behind the black cloth. If you want to step through the arch to see what you can find, turn to 198. If you would rather leave the wagon before you are discovered and join the rest of the assembled crowd inside the Great Hall, turn to 218.

218

The Great Hall is lit with many candles and rush-lights. King Claudius sits upon his throne with his agitated-looking Queen at his side, while the Prince stands off to one side, observing the Players as they make their final preparations.

“Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have?” demands the king.

If you have the Stage Direction Murder Most Foul ticked off, turn to 233. If not, turn to 153


**************
Although Polonius exclaimed 'murder most foul', you do not have the stage direction of the same name.
***************

153

When all is ready, the Players enter the hall, led by two dressed as a king and queen. They are followed by one who is clearly a rascally knave. But after him comes a character you do not recognise. It is a tall, vaguely humanoid figure shrouded in tattered yellow robes, their face covered by a pallid mask. The actor playing the role must be on stilts to be so tall.

“You are welcome, masters; welcome, all,” declares the Prince.

“Full thirty times hath Phoebus’ cart gone round Neptune’s salt wash and Tellus’ orbed ground, and thirty dozen moons with borrow’d sheen about the world have times twelve thirties been, since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands unite commutual in most sacred bands,” the Player King tells his Queen and with that, the play is underway.

You recognise the play – it is The Murder of Gonzago. It tells the tale of a man named Lucianus who poisons his uncle, the king, and then marries the widowed queen. But as the performance progresses new elements enter the play that you are unfamiliar with.

It becomes apparent that you are watching a play about the final days of the dynasty of a distant land. The whole thing is starting to make you feel very uneasy.

If you want to use the Where There’s A Will special ability, turn to 133. If not, turn to 177.

[Thaluikhain]

We are 4 forum pages in and have 3 uses left, so I vote to use it.

[Beroli]

I vote not to, I am not seeing a reason to consider this part of Hamlet a tight spot.

[deaddmwalking]

Rolling to break the tie; 1-3 use it, 4-6 don't. Roll: 5 (5).

177

A stranger arrives in the city, while Lucianus and his Queen hold a masque to celebrate their wedding.

“The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,” the Prince heckles from the back of the hall. But none of the audience react; they are too in thrall to the story unfolding on the stage before them.

It is then that the strange figure clad in tattered yellow robes who has always been skulking in the background arrives at the masque.

Take a Madness test. If you pass the test, turn to 124. If you fail the test, turn to 259.

Roll: 7 (4,3) Success!

124

“Thou stand’st before my throne, yet dost not bow,” the Player Queen chides the Stranger. “What manner of a guest denies such grace? Unmask thee now, so I may know thy face, for courtesy doth bid no man to hide.”

“No mask I wear,” declares the Stranger, “yet still thou bidst me shed what is not mine to cast upon the floor. Look well, O Queen, and tell me what thou seest.”

“A trick of light, a jest of painted flesh – thou wouldst not come unshrouded to my court. Dost think me blind? I see the veil thou wear’st, as thin as breath yet heavy as the grave. Unmask! Unmask! I will not ask thee thrice.”

“I wear no mask, my lady,” the Stranger purrs. “Look again.”

“Thy words are blades that cut the seams of thought. How cruel the jest, to stand before my sight and claim thou dost not wear what all can see! The air itself recoils upon thy shape, as if it strains to hold thy form intact. What art thou, then, if not a man concealed?”

“What am I, Queen? What art thou, if thou seest what is not there and swears it must be true? The lake reflects not what the lake contains, yet still it drinks the stars into its breast. So too dost thou reflect what is not there, and name it mask, and bid it cast away.”

The Queen raises trembling hands to her face and wails, “Enough! Thy words are poison dressed in lace. My soul recoils, and yet – I cannot turn. A horror lingers, nameless yet too near, and in thy vacant gaze it finds a home. O, Stranger, tell me: do I wear a mask?”

Listening to the Player Queen, you find yourself wondering if you yourself are wearing a mask. Are you really William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon or, in truth, are you someone else?

Gain 1 Madness point and then turn to 200.

200

Claudius suddenly rises from his throne. “Give me some light: away!” he bellows, and hurries from the hall, followed soon after by Queen Gertrude.

“Why, let the stricken deer go weep, the hart ungalled play,” Hamlet laughs. “For some must watch, while some must sleep. So runs the world away.”

Claudius having departed, the play comes to an abrupt end, and the actors quit the hall. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark indeed.

Soon, only you and the Prince remain. “What will you do now, my lord?” you ask.

“O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”

His madness: if’t be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong’d; his madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy.

Claudius unexpectedly reappears within the hall, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

“Hamlet,” he says, “we must send thee hence with fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself; the bark is ready, and the wind at help, the associates tend, and every thing is bent for England.”

It is then as if a cloud passes across his face for a moment. But, once it has passed, he is all smiles. However, some that smile have in their hearts… millions of mischiefs.

“Good. For England!” the Prince declares. He turns to you then. “Will you come with me? You are a native of that scepter’d isle, are you not?”

“Speak, man,” demands the King. “Who shall stay you?”

How will you reply?

“Yes, if it please your majesty, my liege.” Turn to 160.

“I cannot, cannot, cannot.” Turn to 180.

William Shakespeare
Agility: 10 [10]
Combat: 10 [11*] (includes +1 from sword)
Endurance: 15 [15]
Madness: 5
Meals: 0
Where There's a Will: 3 [4]
The Pen is Mightier: 3 [3]
Props: Doublet & Hose, Quill, Manuscript, Breastplate (50% chance to reduce damage by 1 point), Sword, Cloak, Pack, Pnakotic Scroll, skull
Stage Directions Obtained: An Evil Sign; Fortune's Fool; Good Mother; Graves All Gaping Wide; Guilty Mind; Star-Cross'd; Strange Fellow;
Stage Directions Possible to Acquire: A Flattering Tongue; A Most Exquisite Lady; An Armed Head; Book of Riddles; Cunning Man; Double, Double Toil and Trouble; Dreadful Minister; Exit, Pursued by a Bear; Fell and Wrath; Foul Fiend; Give No Words But Mum; Give't to thy Crone; His Commandment; Horned Man; Ignoble Traitor; Instinct is a Great Matter; Is This a Dagger Which I See Before Me?; King of Infinite Space; Knavish Sprite; Maiden Pilgrimage; Murder Most Foul; My Honour'd Lady; My Verse Astonished; Prince of Cats; Servant-Monster; Speak the Speech; The Charmed Pot; The Ides of March; The Spirit of Banquo; The Worst Rank of Manhood; Unspeakable Deserts; Yellow Gold; Yellow Hue; Yellow Melancholy; Yellow Sands

[Beroli]

Agree to go with him.