Caverns of the Snow Witch (preview) - Attempt 3 & 4

Half a gamebook.  That's what I'm stuck on right now.  I suppose that there's no reason a short gamebook can't be difficult, but there's something about it that galls me.  It's not even a real gamebook!  I should be done with this thing by now!  I never should have made that no-cheating rule.

ATTEMPT 3

I can't blame the dice for my misfortune, because my stats have been rather good in all my attempts so far.  This time around is no different: I rolled a Skill of 12, a Stamina of 21 and a Luck of 10.   It would be nice to be able to point at a guy with Skill 7 to justify my lack of success, but nope.  I only have my own curiosity and stupidity to blame.

I got off to a bad start right at the beginning of my adventure.  As usual I opted for the path with the Mammoth, but despite my Skill being higher it absolutely mauled me.  It hit me five times during the battle, and I was left with a mere 11 Stamina by the time I killed it.  This did not bode well for the future.

The rest of the initial stages presented me with little difficulty, and I was able to raid the trapper's hut and kill the Yeti with only some minor wounds.  I had learned my lesson from last time around, and I avoided the blizzard in my nice, warm igloo.  I still had a Stamina of 11 when I reached the Snow Witch's lair, and I was able to restore that to 14 by drinking the potion near the entrance.

This time around I decided to attack the Mountain Elf when I encountered him.  He was a pushover, but rather than kill him I opted to spare his life.  He was pretty happy about it, and even happier that I was here to kill the Snow Witch, so he gave me his cloak.  Always nice to have a disguise in enemy territory.

At the next junction I followed the Elf's advice and turned right, into uncharted territory.  I soon came to a kitchen, where a Neanderthal was stripping the skin from a dead moose, under the supervision of a Gnome chef.

Insert the Gordon Ramsay invective of your choice.

When I entered the Gnome offered me a stale cake.  This was a pretty meager haul, and I fancied myself against these two, so I attacked them.  The Neanderthal died with little trouble, and the Gnome fled to raise the alarm.  (That's what the text says he does, but the Gnome's escape affects nothing at all.)

For a kitchen, the cupboards were loaded with treasure.  I found a magic flute, a rune-covered stick, a rose that restored my Stamina to 17 when I smelled it, and a book.  Unfortunately, the book had a poison needle in the clasp, which dropped my Stamina back to 13.  In better news, inside the book was an Amulet of Courage that restored 2 Skill points.  This was fairly useless for me, but I kept it anyway just in case it would come in handy later.

After leaving the kitchen I came to the cavern with the Ice Demon and its worshippers.  With my cloak and a successful Luck test, I was able to sneak through unhindered.

Following that I rescued the Dwarf from the pit, and went on to confront the Illusionist and his prism.  At first I tried to trick the Illusionist by saying that I had come to play my magic flute for the Snow Witch.  He seemed happy enough to let me pass, but I didn't trust the path he tried to lead me down, so I killed him, and released the Genie from his prism.

Last time I had chosen the right tunnel after defeating the Illusionist, and ended up trapped between two gates.  This time I went through the skull mouth, which led to a large cavern inhabited by a Frost Giant.  I had the option of running through before he spotted me, but what kind of an option is that for a self-respecting adventurer?  It's no way to obtain loot, that's for sure.  Instead I knocked him out using the sling that the aforementioned Dwarf had given me.  (This required a roll against my Skill, but with a score of 12 it was impossible to fail.)

The Giant dropped a chest, which contained three rings and a cracked bottle.  The bottle was perfume, so I ignored it and moved on to the rings.  One was gold, one was silver, and one was copper, and I made the decision to try them all.  This is always a bad idea in gamebooks, but I was hoping that the benefits would outweigh the penalties.

The gold ring provided magical protection from the cold, a handy thing to have in an ice-themed adventure.  The copper ring gave me the power to summon a warrior to my aid but once.  The silver ring...  The silver ring was cursed, and drained my life force.  I had to roll a die, and subtract the number from my Skill.  Of course, I rolled a 6, and went from legendary killing machine to doomed fool in one stroke.  My only hope was to find a hefty Skill bonus, and soon.

Instead, what I found was a Crystal Warrior.

He looks a bit like Unicron.

The Crystal Warrior was one of the Snow Witch's guardians, and had apparently been sent to deal with me personally.  My sword was useless against it, but luckily I had a warhammer (looted from the trapper's hut).  Unluckily, the Crystal Warrior's Skill was far in excess of mine.  I was able to get one good hit in, but aside from that it destroyed me.

THE POST-GAME

Done in by my curiosity once again.  Well, I say that, but I put the silver ring on first, so I would have suffered the penalty regardless of my decision to try them all.  At least now I know to avoid it next time.

I assume that the Crystal Warrior is unavoidable; I encountered it at a four-way junction, so I figure that the two paths I haven't explored yet converge here.  It's a hard fight, and the annoying thing here is that I should have more options.  What about that warrior that I can summon with my ring?  What about the Genie I liberated, which said it could turn me invisible?  Both of those were options I would have used if the book allowed it.  It didn't, and I was forced into an unwinnable combat.  You win again, Livingstone.

ATTEMPT 4

This should be a quick one.  I followed much the same path as the previous entry, with a few minor differences.  Instead of fighting the Elf, I told him I was here to join the Snow Witch, then changed my story and told the truth.  He gave me his cloak without the need for battle, so that seems like the best option to go for.  In the kitchen I took the stale cake instead of fighting; it restored a mere 1 Stamina, so engaging in some chef murders seems like the better way to go.

After killing the illusionist I chose the left path, and much like the right path I was trapped between two gates.  I didn't have the key I needed to unlock them, so I was trapped and my adventure was over.  An abrupt and unsatisfying end.