[Let's Play] Virtual Reality Gamebooks: Green Blood

[Darth Rabbitt]

So my last LP was tied between Haunters of Marsh Hall and this book for "next book run." Since the last Storytrails LP got a bit slow towards the end I decided to break the tie in favor of the very first Virtual Reality Gamebook (I'll run Haunters of Marsh Hall next, and I'm then open to running either of the books in the poll).
Cover:

Map:

You know the drill with VR books by now. Other than being the first in the series, it's also noteworthy for being one of two to be written by Mark Smith instead of Dave Morris (the other being The Coils of Hate.) The writing style is noticeably different as a result, and both of Smith's books seem to be set in the World of Orb (Coils of Hate explicitly is since Tyutchev the motherfucker and Cassandra the warrior cameo), and this appears to be set in the same world as that book. Finally, this book only has 11 skills; all the others (including The Coils of Hate) have 12. We still pick 4 from the list:

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

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

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.

FOLKLORE
Knowledge of myth and legend, and how best to deal with supernatural menaces such as garlic against vampires, silver bullets against a werewolf, and so on.

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

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

STREETWISE
With this skill you are never at a loss in towns and cities. What others see as the squalor and menace of narrow cobbled streets is home to you.

SWORDPLAY
The best fighting skill. You must possess a sword 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.

Archery requires a bow, Charms requires an amulet, Magic requires a wand, and Swordplay requires a sword. If we have any of those skills, we start out with their respective items (we still have an 8 item limit, which these count towards). We also start out with 10 Life Points and 10 Gold Pieces.

Alternately we can pick a pregenerated character, and in this book there's a benefit to doing so! They start with different totals of Life Points (ranging from 9-11) and Gold Pieces (ranging from 8-16). Some just start with 10 in both though:

The Duellist
Skills: AGILITY, FOLKLORE, ROGUERY and SWORDPLAY
Profile: As a professional duellist you have upset too many people by winning the spoils of your contests, and you must move on.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Sword
Money: 10 gold pieces

The Ranger
Skills: ARCHERY, STREETWISE, SWORDPLAY and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: Being loyal to the traditional values of your forefathers, you protect those forced to journey off the road.
Life Points: 11
Possessions: Longbow, sword
Money: 10 gold pieces

The Monk
Skills: AGILITY, SPELLS, UNARMED COMBAT and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: The monks who taught you skills have been driven out and you are persecuted for your faith. Life is harsh but you endure all hardships.
Life Points: 11
Possessions: Magic wand
Money: 8 gold pieces

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Skills: CHARMS, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: Sold to a warlock when you were a child, your knowledge eventually outstripped your master's.
Life Points: 9
Possessions: Magic amulet, magic wand
Money: 12 gold pieces

The Starveling
Skills: CUNNING, ROGUERY, STREETWISE and UNARMED COMBAT
Profile: Orphaned in childhood, you made your way half-starved to the city. You learned what it takes to survive in this uncaring world, but now you want to seek something worthwhile in your life...
Life Points: 10
Possessions: None
Money: 15 gold pieces

The Traveller
Skills: FOLKLORE, ROGUERY, SWORDPLAY and WILDERNESS LORE
Profile: You never knew your father, and your mother mislaid you among the carts of a slaver's caravan. Cities make you ill; you can only breath freely on the open road.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Sword
Money: 10 gold pieces

The Thief:
Skills: AGILITY, ARCHERY, CUNNING and ROGUERY
Profile: You are secretive and restless, always just one jump ahead of the hangman's noose. Your latest exploit has made the city too dangerous to you and you must lie low.
Life Points: 10
Possessions: Longbow, two jewels
Money: 16 gold pieces

Some of these profiles directly contradict details given about our character in the Prologue:

Sickened by the ways of your fellow men and despairing of man's cruelty, you have quit the teeming city of Godorno, with its cesspools and plague pits, its beggars and abject slaves. You walk for days, revelling in the fresh air of the countryside. This is a green land of hills and dales, farmsteads and mills – a veritable bread-basket that yields all its grains and fruit to the decadent city.
As you walk you have much time to think. Long ago your family told you how the star of destiny, purple Praxis, changed color to the flaming gold of Moraine, God of War, at the moment of your birth. Even as Praxis flared with energy, so your mother's life waned. She died of exhaustion bringing you into the world, but her sisters looked after you until you were old enough, at eight, to go up to the dreaming spires of the academy at Hegaopolis.
The bookish scholars trained you in many things and all who taught there agreed you showed great promise. But when you were just fifteen years old, Gornild, the harsh overlord of Godorno, dissolved all the monasteries in the lands along the Marches, fearing their teachings would turn minds against its corrupt rule. You were forced to scratch out a miserable living just like the other poor folk of the city.
The cloistered life of the academy, with its politeness and order, gave you scant preparation for life on the streets of Godorno. You developed the cunning of a sewer rat and the patience of the damned just staying alive from day to day, dodging the press gangs from the war galleys that carry young men off to fight the corsairs. Your cunning was great enough to avoid the fate of the galley slave and you have grown to maturity, strong, tough and determined.
The ways of the city folk revolt you. Your diligent study of history shows an ever churning cycle of oppressors and the downtrodden. Man is strapped to the wheel of fate to be alternately dragged to the heights and plunged again into the pits and windblasted depths of pain and want.
As you walk, every step that bears you away from the stench of the city is a step taken more lightly than the last. You resolve to return to the city only if you have changed things for the better. Yours is the nobleness of spirit that would lay down its life to better the lot of your fellow man. If Praxis robbed you of a mother's love, Praxis can repay the debt by shining brightly on your destiny.
As the miles pass with you deep in thought, your path takes you inexorably on towards the great forest, beyond the lands of men. Your curiosity has been piqued by rumors and legends about the ancient Tree of Knowledge, a fabled tree hundreds of feet high, with golden bark and silver leaves. It is said to grow at the centre of the great Forest of Arden.
Fey sylvan elves are said to dwell there. The stories of what they look like and the fate that befalls those lost in the forest are too fantastically horrific to be true. Each fable tells a different story: of elves with six arms, of elves with scimitar blades in place of their forearms, and of greenbark bows that can send an arrow from one horizon to the other and which always hit their mark. And there are stories of elves with jewels for eyes which melt when they cry, as cry they must when disturbed by man, for they keenly sense the tragedy of man's mortality.
Though each story is fanciful and bizarre they all agree on one respect. No one who sees the elves lives to tell of it. There isn't a man alive who has glimpsed the splendid glory of Elvenhame, the city of the elves.
You no longer know whether it is the desire to see elves or your wish to change the world for the better that takes you on your quest. What, however, if you were to learn the knowledge of ages and return to the lands of men as a saviour? Your name would go down in history. Anything less magnificent than this noble quest for the knowledge that will save mankind will not do. You will become a hero or die in the attempt.
You are on the road. It is approaching early evening and purple Praxis already beams out in the low dusk sky. As you stare at the star, it seems to wink out then flare bright golden yellow before resuming its usual purple form. It is a sign that your destiny awaits in the Forest of Arden.

Before we continue on to the book proper, it's time to make or pick a character.

[angelfromanotherpin]

To fit the backstory, I think we need to have Folklore, Cunning, and Streetwise. After that, some sort of combat skill seems important, and Swordplay is explicitly 'the best,' so go with that.

[SGamerz]

Spells, Archery, Wilderness Lore, Cunning

I'm not that worried about skill that require mandatory items slots this time, because as I recall, there isn't that many terribly useful items to pick up for this book.

[Thaluikhain]

Not Dave Morris this time? Chance of disembodied head monsters seems low.

I'd suggest, after last time, that we don't take any skills we-

I'm not that worried about skill that require mandatory items slots this time, because as I recall, there isn't that many terribly useful items to pick up for this book.

Huh, nevermind then. I suggest Spells, Folklore and Cunning, not sure on the fourth.

Also the Forest of Arden was in the "Duelmaster: Challenge of the Magi". Not sure if you could just walk from one place to another if you weren't a magi, though. So, same continuity as that.

Also also, the Forest of Arden is also a place in Britain, which is on Earth, which featured heavily in the Falcon series that Mark Smith also co-authored. And the Way of the Tiger was co-authored with Jamie Thomson, who did "Can you Brexit?" with Dave Morris, in which Britain featured heavily. So, I might argue possibly same continuity.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Not Dave Morris this time? Chance of disembodied head monsters seems low.

The disembodied head monster was in Necklace of Skulls but we missed it.

Also the Forest of Arden was in the "Duelmaster: Challenge of the Magi". Not sure if you could just walk from one place to another if you weren't a magi, though. So, same continuity as that.

I'm pretty sure Thomson's two VR books are set in the same world as the Duel Master Books, Talisman of Death and Way of the Tiger (Orb, I believe?). Shattered Realm mentions it's set in Orb, too. Godorno (on this book's map and mentioned in the Prologue) is a major city in The Coils of Hate (so in the same continuity as that book), and you can come across Tyutchev and Cassandra from Way of the Tiger there (so also Orb). I do kind of dig that he puts all his stuff in the same world.

Also also, the Forest of Arden is also a place in Britain, which is on Earth, which featured heavily in the Falcon series that Mark Smith also co-authored. And the Way of the Tiger was co-authored with Jamie Thomson, who did "Can you Brexit?" with Dave Morris, in which Britain featured heavily. So, I might argue possibly same continuity.

If these all took place on Earth I want to meet Avenger, and maybe the evil dragon guy from Blood Valley (though he'd probably kill me). Of course, that's a different (and better) timeline since we stopped Brexit there. Maybe Yelov and the Hivers figured that Donald Trump and Brexit would destroy civilization better than any of their other meddling.

So 3 votes for Cunning, that definitely gets in.
2 votes for Spells and Folklore also get in. That's 3/4 skills.
1 vote for Streetwise, Archery, Wilderness Lore, and Swordplay. I'm going to pick one from those. Thal, you picked 3 skills that all made it on the final list. Want to break the tie with your 4th?

[SGamerz]

Honestly, I'm shocked that nobody else wants Wilderness Lore despite it being crystal clear that we're gong to be spending a lot of time in a forest.

[Thaluikhain]

I'm pretty sure Thomson's two VR books are set in the same world as the Duel Master Books, Talisman of Death and Way of the Tiger (Orb, I believe?). Shattered Realm mentions it's set in Orb, too. Godorno (on this book's map and mentioned in the Prologue) is a major city in The Coils of Hate (so in the same continuity as that book), and you can come across Tyutchev and Cassandra from Way of the Tiger there (so also Orb). I do kind of dig that he puts all his stuff in the same world.

The first Duelmaster book having things split into 16 places you only reached by magic made me think it was separate to their other stuff (which just seemed to be on a planet and you walked from one place to another) but it was a bit unclear. Though, a sample character from "Challenge of the Magi" appears as an enemy in "Arena of Death".

Honestly, I'm shocked that nobody else wants Wilderness Lore despite it being crystal clear that we're gong to be spending a lot of time in a forest.

Well, yes, that would be a sensible choice, I was going for interesting sounding ones. But ok, vote for Wilderness Lore.

[Darth Rabbitt]

So that breaks the tie in favor of Wilderness Lore.

The road tops a ridge that is straddled by the ruins of a great wall, half covered in turf. The wall once marked the border between the lands of man and domain of the elves. Quickly you scramble up and over the blocks of fallen stone. Standing atop the ruin, you survey the outlands beyond.
Your gaze sweeps across the broad patches of purple heather and yellow gorse that cover the inhospitable uplands. The air smells fresh; it is good to be free of the noisome taint of the sewers and plague pits of the city you have left behind. The road winds down into a valley, at the foot of which nestles Burg, a small town of neat white houses with roofs of triangular grey slates. Here may be your last chance to talk with mankind before you are swallowed up by the depths of the great Forest of Arden.
As you walk towards the buildings through the tilled and reaped land of the valley, you pass gleaners – peasants who search the ground for stalks of straw and seed spilled during the harvest. The townsfolk, seemingly wary of outsiders, keep out of your way. Ahead of you is an inn, the largest building in the town. Looking forward to perhaps your last night's sleep in a proper bed for many weeks, you make for this hostelry.
The inn seems surprisingly large for a town that is at the very edge of the wilderness. It must once have been a baronial hall built by a lord seeking to carve out a kingdom beyond the great wall. As you walk down the main street the ruddy sky is turning violet with the onset of twilight. What looked an inviting little town by day seems sombre and unwelcoming at nightfall. As you linger a moment outside the inn, there is a crack of thunder and it begins to pour with rain.
Inside the inn a young girl is lighting oil lamps with a taper. Until your eyes grow accustomed to the gloom you cannot make out who shares the common room with you, nor many details of the interior of the inn itself.
You can wait by the door until you can see better or step in and warm yourself before the fire.

Adventure Sheet:

Name: ??
Skills: CUNNING, FOLKLORE, SPELLS and WILDERNESS LORE
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Magic Wand
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Money: 10 gold pieces

[SGamerz]

I doubt we're gonna get jumped/ambush for walking straight into the inn. Get out of the rain and make ourselves comfortable.

[Thaluikhain]

Normally I'd just walk in, but the option not to walk in has me worried. But still walk in.

[Darth Rabbitt]

A tall man and his short and stocky companion move apart to allow you room in front of the roaring log fire. Both give you a sidelong glance. They look rough weather-beaten men: the smaller of the two has a face like a bull-mastiff, the taller has the sly cunning look of a fox.

Tell them who you are and why you have come to Burg?
Remain silent?

[Thaluikhain]

Talk to them.

(Also, the town is called "Burg"? Huh.)

[SGamerz]

Let's get chatty.

[Darth Rabbitt]

You tell them of your quest to find the Tree of Knowledge in the Forest of Arden. The tallest of the two men introduces himself as Renard the Guide.
'If you seek the Tree of Knowledge, you will need a guide. The forest holds many snares, and its ways are treacherous. If you enter there alone you'll surely perish. That or you'll be hopelessly lost, never to see the lands of men again."
'Ha!' snorts the short man. 'Renard doesn't know the whereabouts of this tree you seek, I'll warrant.'
'And what would a hunter know about the Tree of Knowledge?' snaps Renard.
The hunter turns away, quietly saying as his parting shot, 'About as much as you, Renard, and that's nothing at all.' He walks over to the kitchen door to talk to the young woman who pours him a jug of beer.
Renard sits down at a table, pulls up a second chair, and gestures you to join him.

Ask him about the Tree of Knowledge?
Learn about the other travellers in the inn?

[Thaluikhain]

The hunter turns away, quietly saying as his parting shot, 'About as much as you, Renard, and that's nothing at all.' He walks over to the (This post is most likely SPAM. Please report it, but do not reply.) to talk to the young woman who pours him a jug of beer.

Curious as to what word it was that looked like spam.

Anyway, half vote for asking about the tree.

[SGamerz]

I think we're more likely to get more useful information about the other people here, personally.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Curious as to what word it was that looked like spam.

Adjusting it to avoid the filter, it was "kitch3n door".

Anyhow, 1 vote is more than 1/2 vote so we ask about the others:
'There's Marek the Hunter there.' He points to a stocky man with a face like a bull-mastiff, drinking beer by the kitchen door. 'He's a good enough man if it's simple hunting you're after.' Renard looks at you as if you must be after something more.
'Then there's old Oakmother there, lives in the forest. She says she comes to Burg just to remind herself once a while that she is a human being. She's a strange old cove.' He points over to a weather-beaten old woman in a grey robe. 'She won't eat meat. Says her friends the animals will desert her if she does. Says they'll smell it on her skin.' Renard shakes his head pityingly.
'And who is the man in black?' you whisper.
'I am Valerian and I have the ears of a bat, the eyes of an owl and the sting of a viper.' The man in black gets to his feet and approaches.
Renard slinks away to join Marek the Hunter.

The man in black fixes you with a flinty stare. 'What are you doing here, stranger?' He awaits your reply in stony silence.
(We do not have STREETWISE.) Will you tell him to mind his own business or that you seek the Tree of Knowledge? Or you can simply leave the inn abruptly.

[SGamerz]

The skill check makes me wary...I would have told him to mind his own business if we hadn't already told our business to the 2 guys earlier. It's not really a secret anymore, and Valerian can probably find out from them if we refuse to tell. Might as well go for honesty.

We're not ninja, so...ranger honesty, I guess?

[Omegonthesane]

Yeah, ranger honesty.

[Thaluikhain]

Vipers bite, they don't sting.

Be honest.

[Darth Rabbitt]

My apologies for the wait, things have been crazy around here.

'It is my intention to search for the Tree of Knowledge in the Forest of Arden,' you announce in a firm clear voice.
As your eyes become accustomed to the gloom you can begin to make out details of those in the room. The black-cowled man merely stares inscrutably. A woman, old and weather-beaten, in a grey robe, looks up at you with interest. The two who were at the fire stand up and walk over to you. The shorter one has a face that reminds you of a mastiff. 'Why would you seek the Tree of Knowledge?' he asks. 'What use is it to you, a southerner?'
'Fool, don't speak to him of the tree,' interrupts the man in black. 'All must be left as it is, nothing changed. The knowledge of the tree is lost to men and it is better that way.'
The woman speaks with a clear voice that sounds too young for her age. 'You would have it that way. You are not at one with the forest. Because the tree sees your evil heart, you seek to keep its knowledge and pervert it.'
'You dare to say I am no friend of the forest?' The black cowled [sic] man surges to his feet and the cowl slips back to reveal a bald head, a hatchet-thin face with a long black goatee beard and eyes of flint.
'You lost your way in the forest many years ago.'
'I didn't need you to find me, old woman. You only dare challenge me now because you think these simple folk of Burg can offer you protection.'
'You know full well I am at my strongest in the forest, Valerian,' says the woman. 'The beasts follow me. They sense your evil.'
'There is a new power astir in the forest,' he retorts. 'It will sweep you and all your bestial followers aside like chaff in the wind.'
'There is no cause to fill the harts of the good people of Burg with dismay. I know of what you speak...'
He sneers. 'Much good may the knowledge do you, old one. Haven't you heard the song of the wind? The time of man has come to the forest. All must change—or pass away.'
Valerian speaks the last words in such dire tones that three townsfolk hastily leave the inn. Valerian himself twitches his cloak around him and follows them out, pausing to give you a last look as though committing your face to memory.

Take a room at the inn for the night?
Talk to the hunter and the guide who are by the fire?
Talk to the woman in grey?

[Thaluikhain]

Talk to the woman in grey

[SGamerz]

Yes, woman in grey.

[Darth Rabbitt]

The woman looks wise. 'My name is Elanor, I am a priestess of the All Mother, from whom springs all life, eternally.' Her weather-beaten face comes to life as she speaks and you sense her love of life.
She tells you Valerian, the man in the black robe, is a Moon Druid who vies with her for control of the forest and the beasts dwelling there. 'But they sense his evil and flock to me. His envy of me consumes his heart and turns it as black as his cloak. Valerian has thrown in his lot with the Westermen, the hewers and burners. They have come to destroy the great forest.'
She seems very grave. Will you say that it would be a terrible thing to destroy the great forest? Or will you ask her why it would be such a bad thing to destroy the forest?

[Omegonthesane]

It'd be a terrible thing. We shouldn't need to ask why, we're not 5.