[Let's Play] Virtual Reality Gamebooks: Necklace of Skulls

[Darth Rabbitt]

Like with Once Upon a Time in Arabia Twist of Fate I'm using the Critical IF edition.

Virtual Reality #4 cover:

Critical IF #3 cover:

Map:

So I think at this point we know the basics of Virtual Reality Books. Pick 4 skills, get 10 Life Points, and a preset amount of currency (10 cacao in this book). We have an inventory limit of 8 items total and get any items needed for our skills. Unlike other books in this series, we specifically have a name: Evening Star.

AGILITY
The ability to perform acrobatic feats, run, climb, balance and leap. A character with this skill is nimble and dexterous.

CHARMS
The expert use of magical protections and wards to protect you from danger. Also includes that most elusive of qualities: luck. You must possess a magic amulet to use this skill.

CUNNING
The ability to think on your feet and devise clever schemes for getting out of trouble. Useful in countless situations.

ETIQUETTE
Understanding of the courtly manners which are essential to proper conduct in the upper echelons of the nobility.

FOLKLORE
Knowledge of myth and legend: how to read omens and how to deal with supernatural menaces.

ROGUERY
The traditional repertoire of a thief's tricks: picking pockets, opening locks, and skulking unseen in the shadows.

SEAFARING
Knowing all about life at sea, including the ability to handle anything from a rowboat right up to a large sailing ship.

SPELLS
A range of magical effects encompassing illusions, elemental effects, commands, and summonings. You must possess a magic wand to use this skill.

SWORDPLAY
The best fighting skill. You must possess a sword to use this skill.

TARGETING
A long-range attack skill for both hunting and combat. You must possess a blowgun to use this skill.

UNARMED COMBAT
Fisticuffs, wrestling holds, jabs and kicks, and the tricks of infighting. Not as effective as SWORDPLAY, but you do not need weapons - your own body is the weapon!

WILDERNESS LORE
A talent for survival in the wild—whether it be forest, desert, swamp or mountain peak.

Basically the same list as Twist of Fate but Luck is replaced with Charms (which is what the equivalent is called in every book except Heart of Ice) and Streetwise with Etiquette (which I think is in every book other than this one).

Pregenerated characters:

The Warrior
Skills: AGILITY, ETIQUETTE, SWORDPLAY and UNARMED COMBAT
Profile: A proud noble of the Maya people, and strong in the arts of war, you tolerate no insolence from any man.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Sword
Money: 10 cacao  

The Hunter
Skills: AGILITY, TARGETING, UNARMED COMBAT and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: You can keep pace with the deer of the woods, wrestle jaguars, and your blowgun can bring down a bird in flight. Your sharp instincts make you almost a creature of the wild yourself.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Blowgun
Money: 10 cacao

The Mystic
Skills: AGILITY, CHARMS, TARGETING and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: You feel that others' lives are mundane. You learnt your skills from solitary exploration and the dreams that came while you lay asleep under the stars.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Magic amulet, blowgun
Money: 10 cacao
 
The Wayfarer
Skills: CUNNING, FOLKLORE, SEAFARING and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: You have travelled widely and witnessed countless strange sights. Your wanderings have taught you many useful skills.
Life Points: 10
Money: 10 cacao  

The Merchant
Skills: CUNNING, ROGUERY, SEAFARING and SWORDPLAY
Profile: Daring adventure, subtle villainy, and always one eye open for a tidy profit — these are your tenets.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Sword
Money: 10 cacao  

The Acolyte
Skills: ETIQUETTE, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and SWORDPLAY
Profile: You are master of many skills, but you know it is the gods who shape man's destiny.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Magic wand, sword
Money: 10 cacao  

The Sorcerer
Skills: CHARMS, ETIQUETTE, ROGUERY and SPELLS
Profile: Born into a high clan, you were schooled in sorcery by priests and wise men. Now you can twist reality itself to suit your wishes.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Magic amulet, magic wand
Money: 10 cacao

So what kind of skills does Evening Star have?

[SGamerz]

Cunning, Agility, Charms Unarmed Combat

[SlyJohnny]

Acolyte.

[Thaluikhain]

To maybe break the tie, Charms, Folklore, Spells and Swordplay. Like Acolyte, but with Charms instead of Etiquette.

(Also, this looks like a good place for Morris to have put his disembodied head monsters)

[Darth Rabbitt]

I’ll go with Thal’s list as a tiebreaker unless anyone else wants to cast a vote and/or adjust their existing one. The first choice doesn’t really suggest any skills so I’ll leave it open until then.

PROLOGUE

Last night you dreamed you saw your brother again. He was walking through a desert, his sandals scuffing up plumes of sooty black sand from the low endless dunes. It seemed you were hurrying to catch him up, but the sand slipped away under your feet and you could make no headway up the slope. You heard your own voice call his name: ‘Morning Star!’ But, muffled by distance, the words went rolling off the sky unheeded.
You struggled on. Cresting the dune, you saw your brother standing close by, staring at something in his hands. Your heart thudded with relief as you stumbled through the dream towards him. But even as your hand reached out for his shoulder, a sense of dread was growing like a storm cloud to blot out any joy. You saw the object Morning Star was holding: an obsidian mirror. You leaned forward and gazed at the face of your brother reflected in the dark green glass.
Your twin brother’s face was the face of a skull.
The soothsayer nods as you finish recounting the dream. He plays idly with his carved stone prophecy-markers, pouring them from one hand to the other with a light rattling sound.
‘Today is the day of Lamat,’ he says in his thin old voice. ‘And the symbol of Lamat is the death’s head. On this day, the morning-star has ended its cycle and will not be visible in the heavens for ninety days, when it will reappear as the evening-star. The meaning of the dream is therefore that in the absence of your brother it falls to you, Evening Star, to fulfil his duties.’
You cannot resist a smile, even though the ominous import of the dream weighs heavily on your soul. ‘So it only concerns the importance of duty? I wonder if my clan elders have been speaking to you?’
The soothsayer snorts and casts the prophecy-markers back into his bag with a pretence of indignation, but he has too good a heart to overlook your concern for your brother. Turning at the door, he adds, ‘The King gave Morning Star a great honour when he made him his ambassador. But it is no less honourable to stay at home and help with the affairs of one’s clan. You are young, Evening Star; your chance for glory will come.’
‘Do the prophecy-markers also tell you that?’
He rattles the bag. ‘These? They’re just for show; it’s the two old stones on either side of my nose that tell me everything I need to know about the future!’ He points to his eyes and hobbles out in a gale of wheezing laughter.
You lean back, feeling the cool of the stone wall press against your bare shoulders. The soothsayer intended to set your mind at rest, but you have shared a bond with Morning Star since the two of you were born. To be troubled by such a dream is not, you feel sure, a mere quirk of the imagination. Somehow you sense that something terrible has befallen your brother.
You are still brooding an hour later when a servant comes scurrying into the room. ‘There is news of Lord Morning Star’s expedition...’ he begins, almost too frightened of your reaction to blurt out the words.
You are on your feet in an instant. ‘What news?’
The servant bows. ‘The Council of Nobles is holding an emergency session. The rumour... I have heard a rumour that only a single member of the expedition returned alive.’
Pausing only to draw on your cloak, you hurry outside and head along the street towards the city centre. All around you sprawl the tall thatched roofs of the city, spreading out towards the distant fields. Each clan or group of families has its own dwellings of stone or mud-brick, according to status. These rest upon raised platforms above the level of the street, their height determined again by status. But not even the most exalted noble has a home to match the grand dwellings of the gods, which you now see towering ahead of you atop their immense pyramids. They shimmer with the colours of fresh blood and polished bone in the noonday sunlight, covered with demonic carvings which stare endlessly down across the city of Koba.
The central plaza of the city is a blaze of white stone in the sunshine. Quickening your step, you approach the amphitheatre where the Council of Nobles is meeting. As you step under the arch of the entrance, your way is barred by two burly warriors of the King’s guard, each armed with an obsidian-edged sword. ‘You may not enter.’
‘I am Evening Star. The ambassador is my brother. Has he returned to Koba?’
One of them peers at you, recognition trickling like cold honey into his gaze. ‘I know you now. Morning Star has not returned, no.’
The other says, ‘Look, I suppose you’d better go in. One of the ambassador’s retinue came back this morning. He’s telling the Council what happened.’
You walk in to the amphitheatre and numbly find a seat. You can hardly take in the guard’s words; they sit like stones in your head, impossible to accept. Can it be true? Your twin brother – dead?
A man you recognize as one of Morning Star’s veteran warriors stands in the centre of the amphitheatre, giving his report. The seats on either side are crowded with the lords and ladies of Koba, each face a picture of grave deliberation. At the far end is the King himself, resplendent in a turquoise mantle of quetzal feathers, his throne carved to resemble the open jaws of some titanic monster on whose tongue he seems to sit like the very decree of the gods.
‘...arrived at the Great City,’ the veteran is saying. ‘We found it ransacked – the temples torn down, whole palaces burned. Some poor wretches still live there, eking out a stark existence in the ruins, but it is like the carcass of a beast who lies with a death-wound. Whenever we asked how this destruction had come about, we received the same reply: werewolves from the land of the dead, beyond the west, had descended from the desert and slain all the Great City’s defenders in a single night of carnage.’
There is a murmuring at this. The Great City had endured for centuries before Koba was even built. The King raises his hand for silence. ‘What was Lord Morning Star’s decision when he heard this?’
‘Majesty, he led us into the desert. He believed it his duty to uncover the truth of the matter and report it to you. After many days of trekking almost all our water was used up. We had faced monsters along the way, and many of us bore grievous injuries. Then we came to a place like a royal palace, but entirely deserted except for dogs and owls. We camped outside the walls there, and on the next day Morning Star told us he had dreamed of a sorcerer called Necklace of Skulls who dwelt within the palace. He said he would enter and find out if this sorcerer had sent the werewolves to destroy the Great City. We watched him enter the portals of the palace, and we waited for his return for eight days, but he did not emerge. Then we began the long march back here to Koba, but sickness and the creatures of the desert gradually took their toll, and I alone remain to tell the tale.’
The King rises to his feet. ‘Morning Star must be considered slain by this sorcerer. His mission shall not be recorded as a failure, since he died attempting to carry out his duty. Prayers shall be said for the safe journey of his soul through the underworld. This meeting is ended.’
The others file out in groups, heads bent together in urgent debate. For most of them the veteran’s report carried that special thrill of distant alarm. A great but far-off city reduced to ruin; a disaster from halfway across the world. Cataclysmic news, but an event comfortingly remote from the day to day affairs at home. A matter for the noblemen to worry over when they sit with their cigars at night. The reverberations of a toppling temple in the Great City will be heard here in Koba as no more than the droning discussions of old men.
For you it is different. Left alone in the amphitheatre, you sit like a figure of clay, eerily detached from your own turbulent emotions. Fractured images and words whirl through your stunned brain. Morning Star is dead. Your twin brother, lost for ever...
A single sudden thought of burning clarity impels you to your feet. In that instant you seem to see your destiny unrolling in front of you like a long straight carpet. You turn your face to the west, eyes narrowing in the glare of the declining sun. Your brother might not be dead. There is only one place you can learn the truth. You must journey to the western desert, to the palace of the sorcerer called Necklace of Skulls.

Seeking an audience with the Matriarch of your clan, you are shown into a narrow steep-vaulted hall. Sunlight burns through the high window slits to leave hovering blocks of dazzling yellow light on the whitewashed wall, but the room is cool.
The Matriarch sits cross-legged on a stone bench at the end of the room, below a large painted glyph which is the symbol of the clan. A stout woman in late middle-age, she has a soft and even jolly appearance which is belied by the look of stern contemplation in her eyes. The beads sewn across her cotton mantle make a rustling sound as she waves you towards a straw mat. You bow in greeting before sitting, and a servant brings you a cup of frothy peppered cocoa.
The Matriarch fixes you with her glass-bead gaze. ‘Evening Star, I understand you wish to leave Koba and travel in search of your brother.’ ‘I must learn what has happened to him, my lady. If he is alive, perhaps I can rescue him; if dead, it is my duty to avenge him.’
The Matriarch folds her fat jade-ringed fingers and rests her chin on them, watching you as though weighing the worth of your soul. ‘You speak of duty,’ she says. ‘Have you no duty to your clan here in Koba? Does honour demand that we lose another scion in pursuit of a hopeless quest?’
You sip at the cocoa while considering your next words carefully. What will you reply: that the life of your brother is more important than your duty to the clan, that on the contrary clan honour demands that you go, or will you say nothing?

[Omegonthesane]

Argue that clan honour compels us - let's not burn our bridges just yet

[Darth Rabbitt]

Did you have any votes for skills, Omegon?

[SlyJohnny]

Honour demands we go.

[Thaluikhain]

Clan honour.

[Darth Rabbitt]

‘What would others think of our clan,’ you assert, ‘if we meekly ignored the loss of my brother? Honour is like the sun: it cannot hide its face.’
The Matriarch thrusts her head forward and stares at you along the great hook of her nose. Perched thus on her stone seat, she reminds you of a fat owl watching a mouse. You begin to fear you have offended her with your frank answer, but then to your relief she gives a rumble of approving laughter. ‘Well said, young Evening Star. How like your brother you are — and both of you like your late father, always brimming over with impatient courage.’
You set down your cup. ‘Then have I your leave to go, my lady?’
She nods. ‘Yes, but since your determination glorifies the clan, I feel that the clan should give you assistance in this quest. Consider what help you need most, Evening Star. I could arrange for you to have an audience with one of the high priests, and you could seek their advice. Or I could allow you to equip yourself with the clan’s special ancestral treasures. Or would you prefer a companion on your quest?’

Request a meeting with one of the high priests?
Ask to see the ancestral treasures of the clan?
Think a companion would be useful?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Evening Star
Skills: CHARMS, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Amulet
2) Magic Wand
3) Sword
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Money: 10 cacao
Codewords: None yet

Skills (potentially) subject to change based off Omegon's vote.

[SGamerz]

Ancestral treasure for da loot.

[Omegonthesane]

I'd say companion actually - the ancestral treasures seem likely to be mega-good versions of basic tools rather than plot coupons.

As for skills, stick with the current set of skills.

[Thaluikhain]

Seconding companion.

[Darth Rabbitt]

The Matriarch hands you a letter. ‘Present this to Midnight Bloom, a distant cousin of yours who lives in the town of Balak on the northern coast,’ she explains. ‘Midnight Bloom is an experienced seafarer, having traded the clan’s goods with the distant city of Tahil for several years, and can arrange passage for you there. Once in Tahil, you are halfway to your goal.’
You take the letter of introduction. Note it among the possessions on your Character Sheet. Rising to your feet, you bow to the Matriarch. ‘I shall strive always to conduct myself with honour during my quest,’ you say. ‘See that you do,’ she replies. ‘You wear the clan’s honour on your shoulders.’ As you reach the door, she calls after you: ‘Oh, and Evening Star—’
You turn. ‘My lady?’ ‘Good luck.’ She gives you one of her rare smiles – a momentary crack in the sober mask of clan authority – and waves you out into the bright sunshine.

Realizing there are things you will need on your travels, you head to the market. Here, under a long colonnade festooned with coloured rugs, you can usually find almost anything. Unfortunately it is now late afternoon and many of the traders have packed up their wares and gone home, driven off by the waves of heat rising from the adjacent plaza.
Making your way along the colonnade, you identify the different goods at a glance according to the colours of the rugs. Green indicates sellers of maize, while yellow and red are used for other foodstuffs. Black is the colour of stone or glass items, with the addition of grey frets signifying weaponry. Wooden products are set out on ochre cloth, and white is reserved for clay pottery.
Soon you have found a few items which might prove useful. You count the cacao in your money-pouch while considering which to buy:  
A waterskin 2 cacao
A coil of rope 3 cacao
A firebrand 2 cacao
A pot of dye 2 cacao
A bag of chilli peppers 1 cacao
After deciding your purchases, cross off the money and note your new possessions on your Character Sheet.

What do we want to buy (if anything?)

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Evening Star
Skills: CHARMS, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Amulet
2) Magic Wand
3) Sword
4) Letter of Introduction
5)
6)
7)
8)
Money: 10 cacao
Codewords: None yet

[SlyJohnny]

Waterskin, rope, and chill peppers. What is a firebrand, exactly?

[SGamerz]

What is a firebrand, exactly?

The most ancient kind of torch aka piece of burning/flammable wood

[Thaluikhain]

Definitely waterskin and rope, no opinion on the others.

[Darth Rabbitt]

So that's definitely waterskin and rope. I'll rule against picking up chili peppers for reasons that will become clear this entry.

You decide to set out early the next morning, before sunrise. This will spare your family from farewells. By lantern light in the chill grey predawn, you stand in the antechamber of your family’s house and check your belongings for the journey. You are attended by only one servant, who silently fastens the straps of your pack. Your aunts have left out a parcel of maize cakes for you to eat on the road; note this as a single item on your list of possessions.
There is a knock on the outer door and the servant darts off to open it. Outside you see your friend the old soothsayer standing in the early twilight. You go out and greet him: ‘Good morning. You came just in time to catch me. I’m about to set out.’
'I know,’ he says. ‘I came to wish you luck. And to give you this.’ He holds up a jade bead.
You take it with a quizzical smile. ‘What’s it for?’
‘There are some who’ll tell you that the quickest route to Necklace of Skulls lies through the underworld. It is true, but that way is also fraught with peril and you will need certain safeguards if you hope to pass through in safety. Now, beads such as this are placed under the tongue of deceased nobles for them to use as currency in the afterlife. If you should enter the underworld, be sure to place the bead under your tongue and to keep it there until you reach the crossroads. Got that?’
‘I suppose so,’ you say, not really following his drift at all. But you pocket the jade bead; add it to the list of possessions on your Character Sheet. As you set out along the road, you pause and glance back, adding, ‘You were wrong about the dream. It seems my brother was dead after all.’ He shrugs. ‘Right… wrong… The world isn’t quite that simple, Evening Star.’ Bidding him farewell, you set off towards the edge of the city. Even at this early hour, traders are already carrying their wares to market. Out in the fields, moving shadows in the smoky blue twilight show that the farmers are hard at work. It is strange to think that you might never again see this great city of Koba, which has been your home since childhood.
You turn your gaze to the west, putting such thoughts out of your head. From now on, you must think only of the success of your quest.

The causeway to Yashuna is an arrow-straight road of packed limestone raised on stone blocks above the level of the countryside. As you walk, you scan the swaying fields of maize, the orchards and the ranks of cotton plants that stretch off as far as the eye can see. Low stone walls mark the irrigation channels that ensure as much water as possible reaches the crops at this arid time of year. Peasant dwellings are scattered here and there across the countryside: oval single-storey buildings with sharply peaked roofs of dry thatch. It makes you thirsty just to watch the peasants at their back-breaking work, gathering cotton in long sacks under the sweltering sun.
A dusty grove of papaya trees overhangs the causeway. Your mouth waters as you look at them. Surely no one would mind if you took just one papaya? As you reach up to pick one of the fruits, there is a sudden flurry of movement from the bole of the tree. You go rigid, and a thrill of clammy fear chills you despite the heat of the day. Poised atop the fruit is a tarantula! Its huge black forelimbs are resting on your fingers, and you can see the wet coating of venom on its fangs.
(Evening Star does not have WILDERNESS LORE.) Decide whether you will jerk your hand away quickly or slowly reach around with your other hand to seize the tarantula from behind.

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Evening Star
Skills: CHARMS, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Amulet
2) Magic Wand
3) Sword
4) Letter of Introduction
5) Waterskin
6) Rope
7) Maize Cakes
8) Jade Bead
Money: 5 cacao
Codewords: None yet

[Omegonthesane]

Slowly reach around. Tarantulas are most likely acting in bullet time relative to relatively colossal humans so that's probably the least threatening move right up until the relevant moment.

[Thaluikhain]

Jerking the hand away would be the smart move, but I think we are supposed to catch the thing, so try that.

[SlyJohnny]

Yeah, let's just jerk it.

[SGamerz]

Reach slowly. The theory is probably similar to snakes. Suddenly movements will prompt it to strike.

[Darth Rabbitt]

The spider’s bristly limbs send a shiver through you as they slowly probe your outstretched hand. It takes every shred of nerve to remain motionless while you carefully reach around behind it with your other hand. Its multiple eyes gleam horribly, full of the ruthless intensity of the predator. It looks like a demon carved from polished mahogany, more nightmarish than any image on the walls of the Temple of Death.
As you take hold of it, it starts to twitch its legs furiously. With a sob of revulsion, you hurl it away. It falls with an audible thud somewhere off among the trees, but then a stab of pain convulses your hand. Did it bite you after all? You have to prise your fingers apart, but instead of a bite you find dozens of tiny pinpricks all over your palm. The tarantula’s bristles were razor-sharp, and seem to have injected a stinging chemical into your skin. Lose 1 Life Point.
‘Hey, you there! What are you doing?’
You look up to see an old peasant hurrying through the dusty orchard towards the causeway. If you want to talk to him, turn to 139 if you have the ETIQUETTE skill or to 117 if you do not. If you decide to leave before he gets here, turn to 163.

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Evening Star
Skills: CHARMS, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 9/10
Possessions:
1) Magic Amulet
2) Magic Wand
3) Sword
4) Letter of Introduction
5) Waterskin
6) Rope
7) Maize Cakes
8) Jade Bead
Money: 5 cacao
Codewords: None yet

[Thaluikhain]

Talk, though I don't have much hope if we are supposed to have etiquette.

[SGamerz]

I don't have much hope if we are supposed to have etiquette.

For this reason I vote to just leave. Failing skill checks are almost never good in these book. Avoid the penalty.