[Let's Play] GrailQuest 1: The Castle of Darkness

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Ikeren
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Post by Ikeren »

Sure why not.
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Image
The corridor runs due west for no more than ten metres before you reach the entrance to a large, circular chamber. Set in the centre of the chamber, on a polished granite pedestal, is a statue of a tall, black-bearded man with sharp features and (so far as one can tell from a lump of stone) dark, piercing eyes. He is dressed in dark flowing robes and wears the same sort of pointed hat Merlin wore. In one hand he carries a sack from which protrudes the head of a pig. In the other hand he holds a long Magician's wand.

A smart adventurer like you, Pip, might guess this to be a statue of the Wizard Ansalom and you would be right. But better be careful that you aren't dead right, for the moment you step into this chamber, it revolves, sealing off the doorway and revealing no other entrances or exits. In short, Pip, you are well and truly trapped! You scrabble a bit at the wall behind you where the door used to be, but there is no sign of any control mechanism. So you begin to examine the rest of the chamber.

Probably the first thing you would notice is the small wooden chest on the floor behind the statue. This is less than a metre long and half that in height, but it is very well made, bound in brass with a brass-hinged, upward-lifting lid. You will also notice, set into the floor about three metres away from the chest, a metal lever.

And if you can keep your busy little hands off these two for a moment, there is also an inscription cut into the base of the statue. The inscription reads:
Take heed, Young Woman or Young Man,
This friendly word from Ansalom.
To get out of this room again,
You'll need to exercise your brain.
So take care to remember that
'Twas curiosity killed the cat!

Which just goes to show that however good Ansalom might be as a Wizard, he isn't much of a poet. In fact, as you continue to read the inscription, you find it degenerates into pure gibberish:
Up sfpqfo epps
Hp ejsfdu up tjyuz pof.

Well now, Pip, here you are in this stupid circular room all set to starve to death. (Have a bully-beef sandwich to help you think.) What now?

You can try to decode those two lines of gibberish, if you like.
You can try opening the little chest, in which case go to 59.
Or you can try pulling that lever, in which case go to 56.

Wonder what he meant by 'curiosity killed the cat'?
The gibberish counts as a "puzzle", so if anyone manages to decode it, Pip gets 1 Exp point!
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

To open door
Go direct to sixty one.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Shouldn't that be "reopen"?

I thought that had a hyphen, but spellcheck seems to like either way.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Yes. Yes it should.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by Omegonthesane »

The lesser known ROT-25. Go to 61, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 copper.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

My recovery is almost complete, so I think I can resume my old update schedule now (provided the interest is still there, of course!).

First, let's see if Darth solved the puzzle right:
You did it! By George, that was clever! Now you can get out simply by pulling gently downwards on the wand held by the statue. Go on: it won't hurt you. There, see? The room is revolving again, opening up the entrance so you can go back to the junction and decide what to do next.

Go north to 74.
Go east to 76.
Success! Pip escapes the trap and now has 1 additional Exp point to show for it!

Which direction do we go now?

QUEST JOURNAL:
Pip's LIFE POINTS: 21/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 10 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 3 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass
Diamond Ring (heals 25 LP OR +1 Firefinger, worth 170 GP)
Tingling Silver Ring

MONEY: 80 GP

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 8/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 13
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Not-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
Compost Heap
6 Zombies
PUZZLES SOLVES: 1

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens
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Post by ashimbabbar »

by George ! North
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Sure, north.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by SGamerz »

North it is!
Some twenty-five metres beyond the junction where you made your choice, the corridor ends abruptly in what appears to be a solid stone wall. Since it seems a bit daft to have a corridor leading nowhere, your suspicions are instantly aroused, as well they might be. Thus you begin to search very carefully, feeling along the wall for cracks. Roll two dice to see if you find anything.
Dice roll = 10.
Nice bit of close observation there, Pip: you've found a secret door! As you press against it, a whole section of the stone wall slowly pivots with a loud, echoing, grinding noise, revealing a flight of damp stone steps descending into total blackness.

If your nerves will stand it, follow the steps by going to 63.
Will Pip's nerves stand it? I don't think we need a vote here.....
Mind those steps--they're very slippery. Your torchlight reflects from the damp sheen that's over everything down here. In fact, the walls are actually dripping; running little rivulets of water. The whole place smells damp.

You reach the bottom of the steps and find yourself in another corridor, but much wider than any you've been in so far. Also, shorter. After only about fifteen metres (and a wet fifteen metres it is), you emerge into a vast, underground cavern, almost totally filled by a huge, still, dark lake.

The cavern swallows up the light from your torch, so that all is gloomy and pitch dark outside a narrow circle of torchlight, except for the occasional reflected glint of natural crystals in the stone of the walls.

All is still. All is silent. You can hear your heart beat. (Maybe because it is beating rather loudly.) Then, just as you are wondering what on earth to do next, you hear a sound, a whisper.

"Pip...."

Somebody... something... is whispering your name.

"Pip...."

You look around you, your heart racing even faster. There is no indication of where the sound originates. Sound echoes in this cavern. Impossible to say where it is coming from.

"Pip...."

The word is hollow, fearful, like some lost soul wailing in the wilderness.

"Pip.... Let's get out of here!"

It's EJ! It's that stupid talking sword, mumbling into its scabbard.

"Shut up, EJ," you tell it firmly. "We're not going anywhere."

"But I don't like it down here," EJ protests. "It's dark--there might be spiders."

"There aren't any spiders," you reassure EJ, although in truth you don't really know what might be down here. All the same, you aren't about to turn tail and run just because you have a neurotic sword.

"Well, don't blame me if we get in trouble," EJ sulks.

And as if the words were prophecy, a small blue dot of light appears far out across the lake. But moving closer.

You stand mesmerised, watching, while EJ shivers in the scabbard. In a moment, the light has grown sufficiently for you to see the outline of a boat, moving silently without sail or oars, across the still, dark surface of the lake. Gently, without a sound, the boat draws up to the lake's edge where you stand. Once again, Pip, it's your choice.

If you want to risk your life (and give EJ a bad case of rust) in this leaky--but glowing--old tub, go to 57.
If you have any sense at all, return to 75 and choose some other direction.
EJ's fear of spiders is actually a running theme in this series....

Does Pip have any sense at all?
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

That soon in the series, Pip doesn't have any sense. He'll wise up later.

Jump aboard the leaky tub. It may bring us to a castle filled with snarky French soldiers.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Into the radioactive boat, if we get attacked by a spider we might get superpowers.
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Post by SGamerz »

You step into the boat and at once it pulls away silently from the shore. Within minutes, you can no longer see land... only the still, dark waters of the lake gently reflecting the glow from the boat itself. From the scabbard by your side, EJ continues to mumble discontentedly.

Around you, the air grows chill. Where are you going? Was it a mistake to climb into the boat (as EJ seems to be claiming)? What mysterious force is guiding it? More to the point, where is it being guided to?

The journey seems to last forever. Then, distantly, across the water ahead, you make out a dim white glow. And it is towards this that the boat is heading. Soon the glow resolves itself into the shape of an island set in the centre of the lake, an island that seems to be illuminated by bright moonlight--although an underground moon is obviously impossible.

Soon the boat beaches on a sandy shore. As you step out, your attention is immediately attracted by the soaring columns of a Grecian temple set no more than a hundred metres away across the sand. The boat pulls away of its own accord, quickly disappearing into the darkness over the lake. You are marooned with your reluctant sword.

What now, Pip?

If you wish to explore the island, go to 60.
If you wish to explore the temple, go to 62.
Island or temple?
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Explore the island first.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

temple
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Island first, says I.
Ikeren
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Post by Ikeren »

Island first.
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Post by SGamerz »

Checking out the island:
As you leave the beach, the going underfoot becomes rocky, with only a few leafless shrubs to break the monotony. The moonlight plays strange tricks with the rock shapes, turning them into grotesque monsters until you come close enough to see they are nothing of the sort.

The island, you quickly discover, is very small and largely featureless except for the temple... and for a cave entrance set into a cliff at the northern edge.

If you decide to explore the cave, go to 100.
If you prefer to return to the temple, go to 62.
And found a cave! Cave first or temple?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I favour the temple first.
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

temple indeed
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Cave. Temple was listed immediately cave wasn't, so we're less likely to be able to come back here.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Check out the cave, for the reason SlyJohnny said.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Oh, changing my mind to cave, as it was not listed immediately, yeah.
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Image
There is definitely something peculiar about this cave. Maybe it's the shape of the cave mouth: from certain angles, it looks like the outline of a hollow, grinning skull. Probably doesn't mean anything, of course. Although you do move rather warily as you go inside; and even old EJ has stopped mumbling.

Once inside, the cave mouth narrows dramatically, becoming little more than a fissure cleft in the rock face. You actually have to turn sideways to squeeze through, praying this isn't the time you're going to meet something nasty.

But nothing attacks you and soon you are safely through the cleft into what your torchlight shows to be a smallish, bone-dry cavern. The cavern is empty except for a signpost.

A signpost? Well, it's definitely a signpost. And when you think of it, that's probably no more odd than a lot of other things you've discovered in the Wizard Ansalom's Dark Castle.

The signpost points north, south, east and west. The arms pointing north, south and west all carry the same message:
NOWHERE

The arm pointing east reads:
TO THE CRYPT OF THE FIEND
(Ancient Monument)

Less than three metres away from the signpost, set into the east wall of the cavern, is a well-made wooden door bearing a highly polished brass plaque on which are engraved the words:
THE CRYPT OF THE FIEND
(Please Knock)

There are no doors or other exits from this cavern.

If you have not already explored the temple and now think this might be an excellent time to do so, go to 62.
If you want to risk entering the Crypt of the Fiend, go to 101.
What vicious Fiend lies beyond these doors?

Do we want to face this Fiend?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Oh, is it the Poetic Fiend? Only find out if we face it, so knock.
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