Welcome back to another Let's Play! This time I have a book that the OCR works, so my task of inputting the text will be easier than for the last game. Generally speaking I'll advance when there are 2+ votes for a particular course of action, which may be several times per day depending on my schedule and your ability to check in. At the very least, I plan to try to update morning and evening. I hope you have fun and are looking forward to this as much as I am!
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The Lord of Shadow Keep
by Oliver Johnson
Illustrated by Leo Hartas
People are right to complain that the protagonist on the cover keeps getting younger - it does not align with the background
Back Cover wrote: The land lies in the grip of fear. The king is helpless, withered and aged by evil magic. Arkayn Darkrobe, Lord of Shadow Keep rules the country now with terrifying spells and vile cunning. You are the greatest of the Paladins. You journey through danger and darkness to face the Lord of Shadow Keep. You must overcome his sorcery and slay him or all is lost!
IntroductionInside Cover wrote: You are a skilled adventurer who has roamed over much of the known world. In your yearning for constant challenge and the excitement of battle you have fought goblins, giants, trolls, ogres, dragons, evil wizards and many other strange and terrifying opponents. And you have always won. The years of adventure have honed your reflexes and fighting skills so that few men could stand against you in single combat.
Be warned: this adventure is not easy; You are highly unlikely to find and defeat The Lord of Shadow Keep on your first attempt. It may take you several attempts, but eventually you will win through to confront Arkayn Darkrobe in battle!
And now — the adventure begins...
Imagine how it would feel to be Indiana Jones, or Conan the Barbarian, or Luke Skywalker. Rather than merely sitting back and watching the adventures of these heroes, you could actually experience the thrill and danger at first hand. All that stood between you and certain death would be your own skill and daring, and the decisions you made.
In Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebooks, you are the hero.
You are a skilled adventurer who has roamed over much of the known world. In your yearning for constant challenge and the excitement of battle you have fought goblins, giants, trolls, ogres, dragons, evil wizards and many other strange and terrifying opponents. And you have always won. The years of adventure have honed your reflexes and fighting skill so that few men could stand against you in single combat.
To determine just how good an adventurer you are, you must use the dice:
Roll two dice. Add 20 to this number and enter the total in the VIGOUR box on your Character Sheet. This score represents your strength, fitness and general will to survive. Any wounds you take on your quest are subtracted from your VIGOUR score - if it ever reaches zero you are dead.
Roll: 12 (6,6) Starting VIGOUR 32 (max)
Roll one die. Add 3 to the number rolled and enter the total in the PSI box on your Character Sheet. The higher this score, the better you are at resisting spells cast at you and the more sensitive you are to psychic impressions.
Roll: 6 (6) Starting PSI 9 (max)
Roll one die, add 3 and enter the total in the AGILITY BOX. This score reflects how nimble you are. You will need a high AGILITY to scale walls, leap across chasms, and so forth.
Roll: 4 (4) Starting AGILITY 7
Your Name
Try to personalize your adventuring persona by thinking of a heroic name. You might call yourself Lucas Starkiller or Sir Bergan the Bold, Lady Angela Centuri, or Li Chun the Black Dragon, or any other name you can think of. Imagine what sort of adventurer you are first - a noble knight, a crafty rogue, a dashing swordsman or a rugged Viking, perhaps - and then choose a name to reflect that. Try looking at the BACKGROUND to the adventure first; it may give you some ideas.
VIGOUR, AGILITY and PSI
Your VIGOUR will change constantly during the adventure - every time you are wounded, in fact. You may find healing potions in Shadow Keep. These will restore some of the VIGOUR points you have lost owing to wounds - but unless you are told otherwise your VIGOUR score must never exceed its original value. This is your normal VIGOUR score, and you must keep a careful note
of it.
Your AGILITY and PSI are less likely to change, although this is possible. Spraining your ankle, for example, might reduce your AGILITY by 1 point. A magic helmet might increase your PSI. But, as with VIGOUR, your AGILITY and PSI will never exceed their normal scores unless you are specifically told otherwise.
COMBAT - HOW TO FIGHT THE OCCUPANTS OF SHADOW KEEP
Often during the course of your adventure you will come across a creature or human enemy whom you must fight. When this happens, you will be told to roll the dice. The number you roll will determine whether you wound your opponent or whether he - or it - wounds you.
A typical entry might read like this:
87
The Ogre hefts his axe and advances towards you. You have no escape route, and must fight.
OGRE VIGOUR 10
Roll two dice:
Score 2 to 5: You are hit and lose 3 VIGOUR points
Score 6 to 12: The Ogre loses 3 VIGOUR points
If you defeat the Ogre, turn to 45.
At the start of every combat, you should note down your opponent's VIGOUR score in an empty Encounter Box. You then roll the dice to see who has been wounded. If both you and your opponent still have VIGOUR scores of more than 0, you must continue to roll the dice until the VIGOUR score of either you or your opponent is reduced to - indicating death. Keep note of the VIGOUR scores on your Character Sheet and in the Encounter Box.
ESCAPING FROM COMBAT
In some cases you may start a fight and then find yourself losing badly. If you are told that you can FLEE from the combat then you may choose that option. Your opponent will, however, attempt to strike at your unguarded back as you turn away. To represent this you should roll two dice; if the total exceeds your AGILITY score than you have been hit (lose 3 VIGOUR points) as you flee, but if the dice roll is less than or equal to your AGILITY score then you dodge your opponent's parting blow and manage to escape without further injury.
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For fights that give the option to flee, I will pause to see if people would like to flee immediately. If you choose to fight, please let me know if there is a VIGOUR total or circumstance that might cause you to FLEE. I will do my best to consider your desires when resolving combat - balanced with the desire to resolve things quickly; if a fight ends in your death because of my mistake, we can ret-con to the change. Also, I expect to rewind/reset a few times - as long as people wish to keep playing I'll plan to keep running.
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ITEMS and TREASURE
While exploring Shadow Keep you will collect TREASURE and a number of ITEMS. Some things may be needed later in your quest, although others may turn out to be useless or even harmful. You must fill them in on your Character Sheet as you acquire them and cross them off as they are spent or used up. Any coins (Gold or Silver Pieces) that you find should be entered in the TREASURE box. Anything else should go in the ITEMS box.
At the start of your adventure you have the following ITEMS:
a sword; a suit of armour; 8 Gold Pieces; a backpack in which to carry further items
These are already listed on your Character Sheet.
YOUR ADVENTURE
You are now almost ready to embark on your adventure. You should start at 1 and then proceed to further entries according to the decisions you make.
Be warned: this adventure is not easy. You are highly unlikely to find and defeat The Lord of Shadow Keep on your first attempt. Keep notes of the rooms you go into and what you find in them as you explore the castle. If you get killed, fill in a new Character Sheet and try again, using the notes you made before to guide you. It may take you several attempts, but eventually you will win through to confront Arkayn Darkrobe in battle!
And now - the adventure begins . . .
BACKGROUND
You are a warrior in the elite Imperial Guard of King Valafor, Paladin King of Lalassa. Although this position might be expected to bring with it all the rewards and honour of the realm, things are quite different. Seven years ago, Valafor announced a crusade against the savage goblin hordes of Imhilik and set out across the eastern mountains with a large army.
Valafor left his brother Averok as regent of the kingdom in his absence. At first Averok's rulership was as benign and just as Valafor's had been before him, but suddenly all this changed. Averok locked himself away in the Imperial citadel, Stemhold, and has not been seen by any but his generals and ministers for many years. From Sternhold, cruel edicts are issued which afflict the people with needless poverty and suffering. Bound by duty to obey Averok's commands even while outraged by his injustice, you and your comrades in the Imperial Guard have become hated and feared as the instruments of oppression.
To make matters still worse, news came from the east some months ago that Valafor's army had suffered a terrible defeat in the Icewrack Hills of Imhilik. The tattered remnants of the army are even now hobbling back to Lalassa without Valafor, reportedly slain by a volley of goblin spears.
You look around your barrack rooms for the last time. The Guard's chapel is dusty and seldom visited - the arms and armour of several of your comrades executed at Averok's whim stand shrouded in cobwebs. You have resolved to depart tonight and seek out the greatest dangers in far lands, rather than stay and rot in this decaying realm. You mount your horse and pass down the narrow streets. A drear mist hangs over the huddled bodies of the beggars and cripples whose only bed is the city's gutters. The sentries at the gate recognize you and stand aside to let you through. Outside, you spur your horse away from the city across open country. The miseries of Lalassa - you hope - are now behind you.
The state of the countryside, however, is hardly better than that of the city. Brigands roam the moors unchallenged, robbing and murdering travellers. Lepers lurk in the deserted villages scavenging for food. The once golden fields now lie overgrown with briars and thorns. A heavy chill lies on your heart as you remember the former glory of the realm.
After a few days you come to a dense forest. You are still riding through it when dusk settles, and finally dark night. In the distance you hear the howl of a wolf. The hairs on the nape of your neck prickle as you seem to sense thousands of eyes peering at you from out of the darkness. You are lost in the forest. Then, with a flood of relief, you see a glint of light through the trees. You urge your weary nag towards it and soon discover a low, rustic cottage set in a clearing. It presents a cheering sight, with lamplight flooding from the window and the smoke of a welcoming fire wafting from the chimney. Tethering your horse, you knock at the door. After a moment it is opened. A peasant woman stands before you, her face flushed from the heat of the stove where she has been preparing a hot stew. She seems anxious, but the sight of the Imperial emblem on the clasp of your cloak reassures her - she beckons you in and closes the door.
A hunched figure sits in a chair before the roaring fire. You see his head turn as he looks at you, but his face is in silhouette. Only when he speaks your name do you recognize him, and even then it takes you a moment to reconcile the voice with this frail form. For it is the voice of Valafor, your liege! You are overjoyed by this happy discovery that the king is alive, but as you step forward to kneel before him you receive a second shock. In the firelight you see that a terrible change has befallen him. Although in the prime of life when he left on the crusade, his features are now wrinkled with age, his eyes rheumy, his hair white and thin . . . You start to speak, but he holds up a trembling hand to silence you.
'Loyal subject and noble warrior,' he says, 'you may be the last hope that I and the kingdom have of salvation. As you can see, the rumours that abound are wrong - I live, but I am horribly aged, and Death flies towards me before my time. Attend, then, and I will relate how this came to be so. After the battle in the Icewrack Hills I escaped with a handful of survivors. All of them save I perished in the arduous trek across the mountains back to Lalassa. Eventually I came to the borders of my kingdom, which I had left in such proud splendour many years before. But where I had left a rich and verdant land, I returned to find plague and famine. Worse, the people complained bitterly of Averok's harsh rule - my beloved brother, who before had been the very soul of goodness! I determined to go about disguised until I had got to the heart of this mystery.
'Weeks of travel and many perilous adventures brought me to Shadow Keep, a black castle set atop a crag beyond the forest. Its master, Arkayn Darkrobe, has long been known to me as one who would sow discontent and misery in the kingdom and revel in his unholy harvest of evil. Ah, had I but had the wisdom to direct my wrath against him - and those who, like him, seek to spread wickedness in fair Lalassa - instead of leading the army in a futile crusade to distant lands . . . !
'I fought to the heart of the castle and confronted Darkrobe in a hidden chamber deep within the rock. There I learned from his own lips that he had used his necromancy to make my brother his undead slave, a vampire! Using base trickery to escape my avenging blow, Darkrobe unleashed a bolt of ebon lightning to strike me. Thus sorely wounded by his sorcery, I have no recollection of how I fought my way to safety. I remember only finding myself here, where this kind woman tended my fever with herbs. But the sorcerous wound Darkrobe inflicted on me has robbed me of my strength and vitality. My youth will be restored, and the soulless husk of my poor brother crumble to dust, only when the foul necromancer is slain. Take my sword. I charge you now - you are the first among the Paladins. You must be the saviour of the realm.'
Gently you lift the broadsword from the lap of your king. The scabbard and hilt are of the finest ivory, inlaid with gold and blood-red rubies. You draw it a few inches from the scabbard at Valafor's behest. The steel gleams in the firelight and the blade is keen enough to cleave a man in two. From the tales you have heard, it also holds potent enchantment.
Valafor tells you how you must travel to reach Shadow Keep. You would speak further, ask him of the castle's defences and the creatures Darkrobe employs as guards, but his old eyes close and he lapses into sleep. Before you leave, the woman thrusts into your hand a silver ring with a blue gem set into it (remember to write this on your Character Sheet). You thank her and step out into the chill night. Your quest has begun.
1
Following the directions given to you by the king, you find a road which leads out of the forest into moonlit fields. Ahead of you lies a high crag, and at its top you fancy you can see the twinkling of a light. The landscape of the barren moor you are crossing is empty. Everything is deathly quiet except for the beat of your horse's hooves and the distant hooting of an owl.
Suddenly you hear the sound of a horse galloping up behind you. Looking back, you see a black-cloaked figure astride a fierce charger approaching you at great speed. Will you:
Try to outdistance him by spurring your own horse to a gallop? Turn to 161
Rein in and turn to face the rider? Turn to 271
Leave the road and hide in the bushes? Turn to 58
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In addition to voting on your action, please suggest a name and brief description of your character. While combat rolls will determine the results of combat, please let me know if you prefer just the rolls or the addition of a narrative description of the combat based on those rolls.
Good luck!
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Character Name: ????
VIGOUR: 32 32
AGILITY: 7
PSI: 9
Items:
-sword
-armour
-Gold [8]
-Backpack
-Silver Ring (blue gem)
Deaths: None
