Sorcery! Attempt 12 - Books 1-3

Another week, another attempt at completing the Sorcery! epic. Or should I say another attempt at actually getting to the last book? Because at the moment I'm struggling to even do that.

For my 12th crack at Sorcery! I rolled a Skill of 8, a Stamina of 18 and a Luck of 9. Not an outstanding character, but definitely a viable one. With luck I was pretty sure I'd make it through the first three books and into The Crown of Kings.

Book 1 presented me with little trouble. I even crossed a couple of mysteries off my list along the way. The first was to investigate the third tent in the Elvin village, which it turned out contained nothing but a Wolfhound. I killed it and took its studded collar, but all told it didn't seem worth missing the Schanker Mines for it. The other mystery was the second cave in the Land of the Great Ones, which turned out to be empty except for a few oddments, such as a net and a giant's skull. Again, I don't think it's worth skipping the encounter with Alianna, and the goodies she rewards you with.

The good new is that I'm pretty sure I've solved a riddle that's been nagging at me for years. Near the start of the book you meet an old man who gives you the following rhyme:

"See him though he sees you not;

The black-eyed creature creeps.

A guardian once, but now his lot:

The key to freedom keeps."

He then mentions that the Elvins are keen on finding this key. For a while I'd suspected that this referred to the blind goblin in the Schanker Mines, who does have a key on his person. I've never found a use for that key, however, and it turns out that he's not the only blind character in The Shamutanti Hills. On the way to the Land of the Great Ones, there's a blind beggar whose eyes are painted black, and if you throw him a coin he rewards you with a key. It turns out that he was a jailer in Khare, and sure enough if you get thrown in the cell with the Elvin in Book 2 you can use this key to get free.  All of this fits together, so I'm more than happy to close the book on this particular mystery.

I got through Book 2, but it did not treat me kindly: by the time I finished I had no food and just 3 Stamina points. I'd used my prayer to Libra to help defeat the Deathwraith, so a healing boost from her at the end of the book wasn't an option. As a consequence, I had to use my prayer for Book 3 very early on, so I was operating without that little safety buffer.

After visiting Shadrack and having a friendly encounter with some centaurs, I got them to take me to the Snake Charmer. I'm still convinced there's more to this encounter than meets the eye, but I still wasn't able to get anything out of him. After that I wandered north-east, eventually meeting the Sham and getting her Serpent Staff. Starvation and various other dangers had worn me down by this point, so I was really in danger at the point where I met the Earth Serpent.

Normally the trick to defeating the Earth Serpent is to blow it away with the Galehorn and the HUF spell, but because I only had 3 Stamina points I decided not to risk it; I couldn't remember how many points that spell drained. Instead I tried to lift it with my bare hands, which required a successful test against both Skill and Luck. Alas, I failed the Luck test, and the Earth Serpent bit me to death.

THE POST-GAME

Well, I think it's time to stop exploring off the beaten path, especially in Book 1. If I'd stuck to my usual route and gotten the Armband of Swordmastery from Alianna, I probably wouldn't have been quite so beat up at the end of Book 2, and would have been able to take on the Earth Serpent with no problems. If I can't make it to Book 4 on the next attempt, this is going to start looking embarrassing.