[Let’s Play] ACE Gamebook 03 – Neverland: Here Be Monsters!

[Thaluikhain]

Follow.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered; following the object as it departs.

671

The floating wooden island heads out of the inlet and into the bay, before putting to sea. Once it is in open water, the object starts to pick up speed and you have to increase your own effort to keep up with it.

Suddenly you hear a series of muffled booms that come from above the water, made by the thing you are following. There is another explosion of sound, and then, a few moments later, a large rock crashes into the sea above you.

You dodge out of the way, but the rock is only the first of many. As boulders splash down around you, you do your best to avoid them, but you can’t dodge them all.

Roll one die (or pick a card). If the number rolled is odd (or the card is red), turn to 896. If the number rolled is even (or the card is black), turn to 852.

Rolling the die yielded a 6.

852

One of the falling rocks delivers you a glancing blow to your ribcage.

Lose 2 Endurance points and, if you are still alive, turn to 18.

Deinoschus is obviously still alive.

18

It would appear that following the floating island is fraught with danger. To your left you can see the seabed rises to meet the land.

Do you want to keep following the object, as it continues on its way across the sea (turn to 180), or would you prefer to head to the shore (turn to 81)?

Please make your votes by 9:00 AM PST or before a choice receives 3 votes to ensure that they will be counted.

NEVERLAND Here Be Monsters! ADVENTURE SHEET
Character: Deinosuchus
Agility: 9
Combat: 10
Endurance: 24
Equipment:
None
Special Abilities:
None
Companion: No
Code Words:
None
Mutiny: N/A
Steed: None
Agility: N/A
Combat: N/A
Endurance: N/A

[Thaluikhain]

Keep following.

[Dogopolis]

The plot is where the pirates are, we want to be part of the plot.

[deaddmwalking]

That's my thought. There's probably a limit to what they can do with poorly aimed cannons fired aft.

[JourneymanN00b]

Having Deinosuchus keep following the object received 3 votes; so he will do this.

180

The floating island starts to pull away from you, carried along by the current and the wind, no doubt. Following your curious quarry has become an obsession now, and you are determined to catch up with it as fast as you can.

Roll one die (or pick a card). If the number rolled is odd (or the card is red), turn to 255. If the number rolled is even (or the card is black), turn to 733.

Rolling the die yielded a 2.

733

The curious wooden object outpaces you, borne along on the tides, but you are still able to trace its whereabouts, thanks to your heightened senses.

You eventually find it again in a calm bay. As you approach from below, you see that the smaller object is back, moving from the shore towards the larger object.

Turn to 37.

37

Surfacing between the two of them, you feel strangely drawn to the smaller wooden-thing now, although you don’t know why. As you slide through the water, your tail barely moving as you steer yourself towards it, the water around you is disturbed as if by a sudden squall of rain or a shoal of flying fish trying to get out of your way.

Tiny pellets are hitting the water, and appear to be coming from the direction of the larger object. One of them hits your hide and penetrates it, the sudden pain causing you to twist around, your ire rising. And then another of the stinging pellets hits you.

Roll one die and add 1. Deduct this many Endurance points. (Alternatively, pick a card and deduct its face value from your Endurance score, unless it is 8 or above or a picture card, in which case deduct 7 points from your Endurance score.)

If you are still alive, turn to 654.

Rolling the dice and adding 1 yielded a total of 7. Deinosuchus is still alive.

654

You are just trying to decide whether to retreat to the bottom of the bay or vent your fury on the spindly-limbed creatures in the hollow tree, when something careers up from the marine depths and slams into you, seizing you in its bony jaws.

Lose 2 Endurance points and, if you are still alive, turn to 684.

Deniosuchus is still alive.

684

Once again you are fighting for your life, although this time it is against a monstrous fish protected by bony armour. (The Dunkleosteus has the initiative in this battle.)

DUNKLEOSTEUS     COMBAT 9     ENDURANCE 10

If you manage to kill the giant armoured fish before it can kill and eat you, turn to 589.

The fight:
Round 1: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 4+10=14, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 7+9+1=17;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 13, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 10
Round 2: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 3+10=13, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 8+9+1=18;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 11, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 10
Round 3: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 9+10=19, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 7+9+1=17;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 11, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 8
Round 4: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 8+10+1=19, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 4+9=13;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 11, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 6
Round 5: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 8+10+1=19, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 3+9=12;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 11, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 4
Round 6: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 7+10+1=18, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 12+9=21;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 9, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 4
Round 7: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 9+10=19, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 4+9+1=14;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 9, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 2
Round 8: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 10+10+1=21, Dunkleosteus’ Combat Rating: 3+9=12;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 9, Dunkleosteus’ Endurance: 0

Deniosuchus takes quite a bit of damage in the form of 6 Endurance points before he can dispatch the Dunkleosteus.

589

Protected by its bony armour, even in death, the Dunkleosteus is too difficult a prospect to consider turning it into an appetising meal. Besides, something else has your attention now.

You sense a disturbance in the water, towards the mouth of the bay. It calls to you almost as strongly as the siren cry of whatever it is that is now on board the larger of the two floating wooden things.

If you want to investigate the disturbance out in the deeper water, turn to 840. If you would rather answer the summons of whatever it is that is still calling you to the floating object, turn to 432.

Please make your votes by 7:00 PM PST or before a choice receives 3 votes to ensure that they will be counted.

NEVERLAND Here Be Monsters! ADVENTURE SHEET
Character: Deinosuchus
Agility: 9
Combat: 10
Endurance: 9
Equipment:
None
Special Abilities:
None
Companion: No
Code Words:
None
Mutiny: N/A
Steed: None
Agility: N/A
Combat: N/A
Endurance: N/A

[deaddmwalking]

So I don't think we can do much to anyone on the larger of the two floating things, so I'm for checking out the mouth of the bay.

[Dogopolis]

Answer the summons

[JourneymanN00b]

Thank you for your votes. I will break the 1-1 tie by having Deinosuchus answer the summons of whatever it is that is still calling him to the floating object.

432

You can resist the siren song of whatever it is that is communicating directly with your stomach no longer, and so come parallel with the floating wooden island. Now that you are close enough, you can somehow sense that whatever it is that is calling to you is on top of the rocking island.

Clinging onto the tangle of twisted vines that are hanging over the side of the island, you haul yourself out of the sea and clamber up onto it.

Your appearance on the island appears to cause the two legged creatures much consternation and they run about in a panic, shrieking and jabbering at one another. You ignore them, dragging yourself across the rocking wooden ground, between the sparse trees that grow here, towards the source of the siren call. But it seems that the strange creatures are not prepared to show you the same courtesy, and are determined to drive you off their equally strange island, leaving you with no choice but to fight back. (The capering creatures have the initiative in this battle.)

CAPERING CREATURES     COMBAT 7     ENDURANCE 8

If you manage to rid yourself of the annoying pests, turn to 312.

The fight:
Round 1: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 7+10=17, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 9+7+1=17, Tie Roll: 2;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 8, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 7
Round 2: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 2+10=12, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 5+7=12, Tie Roll: 5;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 8, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 7
Round 3: Deniosuchus’ Combat Rating: 8+10=18, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 8+7=15;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 8, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 5
Round 4: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 8+10+1=19, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 6+7=13;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 8, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 3
Round 5: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 3+10+1=14, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 12+7=19;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 6, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 3
Round 6: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 11+10=21, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 5+7+1=13;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 6, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: 1
Round 7: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 6+10+1=17, Capering Creatures’ Combat Rating: 6+7=13;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 6, Capering Creatures’ Endurance: -1

Due to some unlucky rolls, Deinosuchus takes 3 Endurance of damage before he is able to take out the capering creatures.

312

And then you are left facing the alpha of the others. Not only that, but you know that this particular creature is the source of the siren call that has brought you to this moment.

Despite it only being a small, weak thing that you could swallow in one gulp, it is fiercely determined and will not give up its prize without a fight. As you stalk towards it, the creature points at you with what looks like a hollow reed the colour of polished granite.

Will you:

Swipe at the creature with your tail?     Turn to 358.
Lunge at the creature, intending to swallow it whole?     Turn to 791.

Please make your votes by 9:00 AM PST or before a choice receives 3 votes to ensure that they will be counted.

NEVERLAND Here Be Monsters! ADVENTURE SHEET
Character: Deinosuchus
Agility: 9
Combat: 10
Endurance: 6
Equipment:
None
Special Abilities:
None
Companion: No
Code Words:
None
Mutiny: N/A
Steed: None
Agility: N/A
Combat: N/A
Endurance: N/A

[deaddmwalking]

Swipe might disarm him. I vote for that.

[Dogopolis]

just swipe, swallowing whole sounds very risky.

[Thaluikhain]

I like swiping, yeah.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered; swiping at the creature with his tail.

358

You lash out at the creature with your tail.

Take an Agility test. If you pass the test, turn to 223. If you fail the test, turn to 749.

Rolling the dice yielded a 12, meaning that Deinosuchus failed the test.

749

There is a sharp crack, a sudden cloud of smoke that smells like a forest fire, and then you recoil as something hits you in the softer flesh of your underbelly.

Lose 2 Endurance points and, if you are still alive, turn to 540.

Deinosuchus is still alive.

540

Snapping your jaws in fury, you throw yourself at the islanders’ Alpha, as it takes hold of something that looks like a long flat dinosaur tooth. (In this battle you have the initiative.)

ALPHA     COMBAT 8     ENDURANCE 6

If you defeat the Alpha, turn to 130.

The fight:
Round 1: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 8+10+1=19, Alpha’s Combat Rating: 3+8=11;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 4, Alpha’s Endurance: 4
Round 2: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 5+10+1=16, Alpha’s Combat Rating: 6+8=14;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 4, Alpha’s Endurance: 2
Round 3: Deinosuchus’ Combat Rating: 6+10+1=17, Alpha’s Combat Rating: 6+8=14;
Deinosuchus’ Endurance: 4, Alpha’s Endurance: 0

Deinosuchus flawlessly defeats the Alpha.

130

Delivering the coup de grâce, you snap the Alpha up in your mouth and swallow it whole. For a moment you savour the sensation of the creature wriggling its last as it makes its final journey down your gullet and into your stomach but then, something strange happens.

The inexplicable attraction that brought you all the way to the wooden island fades, only to be replaced by uncomfortable stirrings in your belly. Whatever it was that the Alpha was carrying has joined with whatever it was you swallowed when you first encountered the intelligent apes.

The bubbling sensation in your stomach increases and you are enveloped in a sphere of flickering light.

There is a sudden flash, accompanied by a stabbing pain in your belly, and then everything goes black. Almost immediately the darkness gives way to a suffused, watery light, and you find yourself in familiar waters once more.

You do not quite understand what happened to you, or where you spent your strange sojourn, but what you do know is that you are now back and still king of all you survey. King of all crocodiles!

THE END

Congratulations for completing this adventure as the crocodile, and thank you to everyone for playing.

My next Let’s Play will be 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas. I hope to see all of you there when it is ready.

NEVERLAND Here Be Monsters! ADVENTURE SHEET
Character: Deinosuchus
Agility: 9
Combat: 10
Endurance: 4
Equipment:
None
Special Abilities:
None
Companion: No
Code Words:
None
Mutiny: N/A
Steed: None
Agility: N/A
Combat: N/A
Endurance: N/A

[Dogopolis]

Cheers for running it. Was that the "good ending" or could we have done better?

[deaddmwalking]

Thanks for running it, though it seemed short (guessing because it was an add-on). Any interest in running this as one of the human characters (I vote Tiger Lily).

[JourneymanN00b]

Cheers for running it. Was that the "good ending" or could we have done better?

Yes, I believe that this is the best ending for Deinosuchus.

[deaddmwalking]

What would have happened if we stopped following the ship and listened to the other pull?

[JourneymanN00b]

What would have happened if we stopped following the ship and listened to the other pull?

He encounters a Mosasaur, which has 12 Combat and 16 Endurance if Deniosuchus chooses to fight it. If he deals enough damage to the Mosasaur, the battle lasts long enough, or if he instead flees from the Mosasaur, Deniosuchus needs to pass an Agility and an Endurance test. Failing either one would result in death, while passing both of them gives Deniosuchus 1 Agility point.

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks for running.

[Beroli]

Of course, we killed and ate Captain Hook.

I also would be happy to see what this gamebook offers Tiger Lily.

[JourneymanN00b]

I can certainly run another character if there are three votes to do this. Anyone wishing to vote for this should also vote for any additional Special Abilities that their chosen characters have.

[Dogopolis]

I would be interested in Tiger Lily, Earth Lore and Hieroglyphs

[deaddmwalking]

I am also interested in playing Tiger Lily. I recommend Beast Lore and Hieroglyphics, rather than Earth Lore.

[Beroli]

Earth Lore and Hieroglyphics sound good to me.

[JourneymanN00b]

Okay, so we will be playing as Tiger Lily and give her Hieroglyphs and Earth Lore as the two chosen special abilities to go with her Strength of Will and Tracking.

300

You stumbled upon the tracks of a Horned Lizard yesterday morning and, following the biped’s spoor, you have been patiently stalking the carnosaur ever since, following it eastwards into the foothills of Mount Thunderpeak.

Your quarry is a deadly apex predator, sixty hands in length from its blunt nose to the tip of its sturdy tail, but if you can find it and take it down, nothing would prove to your father, Chief Great Panther, more effectively that you are worthy of being elevated to the rank of warrior of the Accala tribe.

You are currently following a narrow trail through the barren peaks south of the mountain, where it hugs a dusty hillside. Very little vegetation grows here. On your left hand is a near sheer cliff, while to your right, on the other side of the path, is a precipitous drop to the jungle below. Beyond that, far to the south you can see the sparkling waters of Cannibal Cove, but between your current location and the bay the Spider Swamps lie under a pall of fetid mist that rises from the stagnant pools and brackish hollows of the stinking marshland.

Fang suddenly comes to a halt. “What is it, boy?” you whisper into one alert ear, whilst scratching the fur on the back of the Sabretooth’s neck.

Your companion starts to growl, a low rumbling sound rising from deep within his ribcage that is full of ominous menace. He must have caught the scent of something up ahead. Could it be the Horned Lizard?

Tightening your grip on your spear, you kick your heels into the great cat’s flanks, hard enough to make your intention plain, and Fang begins to pad warily along the cliff path once more.

Rounding the next bend, you find the track opens out onto a small plateau that protrudes from the side of the cliff. And standing there, grazing on the leaves of some spiky shrub is a huge beast, built like a Great Horn, but lacking either a great crest or three horns projecting from its face.

What is does have is a body covered in bony plates, from its head right down to its tail; even its eyelids have small plates covering them.

More than four times the size of Fang, the huge reptile is blocking your way onward.

If you want to use the Beast Lore special ability, turn to 280. If you want to use the Earth Lore special ability, turn to 340. If you do not have either of these abilities, or do not want to use them now, will you:

Retreat and follow the path back down through the foothills?     Turn to 88.
Behave in a threatening manner towards the huge animal?     Turn to 202.
Attack the creature?     Turn to 263.

Please make your votes by 9:00 AM PST or before a choice receives 3 votes to ensure that they will be counted.

NEVERLAND Here Be Monsters! ADVENTURE SHEET
Character: Tiger Lily
Agility: 10
Combat: 11
Endurance: 20
Equipment:
Spear
Tomahawk
Shardstone Amulet
3 Meals
Special Abilities:
Hieroglyphs: 3 uses
Earth Lore: 3 uses
Strength of Will: 3 uses
Tracking: 3 uses
Companion: Yes
Code Words:
None
Mutiny: N/A
Steed: Sabretooth Tiger
Agility: 10
Combat: 10
Endurance: 24