LISA
"Are you sure about this?"
"Come on, dude! You gotta have some sense of adventure!" I only say to Cory. "Besides, we haven't had a game night in a while!"
"You found that thing in the basement of Dead House!"
"Well, clearly it wants us to take a break and have fun for a while. What better night for game night than on a Friday? Besides, the others are doing the more important stuff right now! Gotta let loose once in a while, you know?"
Without further ado, our party of 6 (Myself, the mage, Cory, the mystic warrior, Brad, the knight, Jane, the rogue, Sue, the warrior leader, and Eddie, the musketeer) ready our cards as I open the book. I can already tell that Be Afraid is gonna be epic!
"Your party of heroes begin your journey to slay the evil wizard in the Forgotten Realms." Cory reads. "But once you enter the dark lands, you come across a mighty castle filled with war dwarves known as Krels. You must raid the castle to make your way through. How will you battle the Krels?"
"Two words: Magic Missile." I say, rolling the dice to see if it hits. It lands on 20, and Cory turns the page. To our awe, the ink fades in to reveal more text.
"The powerful spell manages to reduce the entire castle to rubble, but at the cost of all your mana. You must wait 5 turns for it to completely refill."
"Worth it."
"You ride on horseback deeper into the Forgotten Realms, but soon encounter a mighty dragon. What do you do?"
"Duh. Slay it." Brad draws a magic sword card. The page is turned and more words emerge.
"The magic sword easily decapitates the beast, allowing you to press on. But it had struck first, burning away 10 HP with its fire breath. You know you have 90 HP remaining."
"Ah don't worry. I'll be healed next turn."
"You journey into the jungles, but are suddenly captured by Jekels."
"I cut us free with my knives and shoot them with my arrows!" Jane says.
Another perfect 20 roll? I start to grow a bit suspicious. It's like the game is WANTING us to win…
"Critical hits down them instantly. You continue through the jungle until you are ambushed by large plant Stelk creatures."
"I cast a sleep spell on them." Sue draws a spell card.
"You make your escape and flee as the living corn stalk monsters slumber. However, once the Wizard's Lair comes into view, a monstrous Barboarian lets out a war cry and prepares for battle."
"I use his slow mobility thanks to his armor to my advantage and easily wear him down!" Eddie says, drawing a speed card.
"Although the pig-like Barboarian creature lies slain, the Krell that survived the castle raid return for revenge, and corner you at the edge of a cliff. There are too many for you to fight off. What do you do?"
"I cast a wind spell to blow the Krell away." I say, rolling the die after drawing a wind spell card. Once the die stops I see that I rolled a…ONE?!
"The spell ends up backfiring and blows your party off the cliff instead. Although you manage to survive the fall, you find yourself having landed right at the entrance of the Wizard's Lair."
Suddenly, the page turns itself, and another sentence forms.
"You Finish The Story?" Cory reads aloud in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Uh, guys? The Gamebook is going crazy!" Jane whimpers.
Cory and I look at the book, and it begins glowing red and shaking. We only turn to each other in horror.
"Oh no…"
The trap goes off, and suddenly I hear ourselves screaming as we all get sucked into the cursed Mystic Manuscript!
…
By the time we wake up, I see myself, Cory, Sue, and Eddie clad in our armor. Brad and Jane however, are still in civilian wear. And we…are…
"Woaaaaaahhhhh….."
Standing right in front of the main entrance to the Wizard's Lair. Behind us is a majestic view of a dark and evil mountain range. It's…it's…awesome…
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The thundering voice booms out from all around. "Welcome to Be Afraid! I am Mr. Zarwid, your new Dungeon Master! Within this deadly lair lies many dangers and perils! Do you have what it takes to brave them and rescue the children within? Enter! If you dare…"
The massive doors creak open as supernatural wind blows from it. Instantly, I piece it together.
"That's it! HE'S the Evil Wizard!"
"What?" Brad asks. "How can you tell?"
"Duh! Right there in the name! It's an anagram for Wizard! And that laugh right there? Definitely evil!"
"I think I'm thinking what you're thinking." Cory says.
"Aw yeah!" I ready my twin swords. "Dungeon raiding time!"
We enter the lair, with Brad and Jane arming themselves with two swords and shields from nearby skeleton bodies. From there on out, our quest is fraught with all kinds of dangers, all with the voice of Zarwid being the Dungeon Master. Come to think of it, he's more like the mastermind laying the traps and monsters there for us to face. He even randomizes the rules, giving us different abilities and different effects to certain actions. Some are good, some are bad. It all comes down to pure dumb luck.
The first monster we face is tentacle eye monsters in an indoor moat and drawbridge. Although Cory and I manage to slay it, it's only the beginning as we begin climbing down into the darkest depths of the dungeon lair. That first monster was but the first of 30 challenges. (Cue the montage!)
Those that followed included a collapsing room, a weapon room filled with tentacles, a foggy room with snakes, a pit of fire with burning ropes, another collapsing room with crushing tiles, a pool of snakes, and a spider, a wizard's chamber with many potion and astral monsters, a flight of stairs with small purple goblins, a slanting and flattening staircase with a chain letting out water, a blacksmith's enchanted armory, a dark corrupted Reaper (Possibly a Shadow Demon), a room filled with immense wind, a bedroom with poison gas being pumped in, a room on fire, a mechanical horse, a robot knight, ghoulish skeleton ghosts, a crumbling bride, a swarm of bats, a falling platform, a Lizard King, a potion room, a tilting room, a throne room with a rotating wall, an underground river, Mud Monsters, a dark knight with a helmet distorted in a scream, a room with large rolling boulder-like spheres, and three cave tunnels with electric floors. (End of montage!)
Finally, we reach the deepest level: A golden massive throne room, which seems oddly empty at first. In a cage above are seven statues, and thanks to our magic sense, Cory and I can see that these are the kids, frozen in inanimacy! Alive, but unconscious.
"CONGRATULATIONS, ADVENTURERS!" Zarwid's voice booms. "YOU HAVE MADE IT TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE! IF YOU SLAY THESE TWO FINAL BOSSES, THE CHILDREN WILL BE FREED FROM THEIR PRISON!"
"Let's see, golden room, massive space…" I summarize. "Yep! I think I know exactly what we're facing here!"
"SUDDENLY, YOUR PARTY ENCOUNTERS THE VERY PET OF THE EVIL WIZARD HIMSELF, GUARDING THE PRISONERS THAT WILL SOON BECOME HIS NEXT MEAL! A SINISTER, SAVAGE, AND INCREDIBLY SCARY BEAST!"
Suddenly, from the walls, a massive wyvern dragon, a purplish magenta with glowing orange eyes, bursts forth and lets out a powerful roar, breathing fire into the air!
"AW YEAH! I KNEW IT!" I can't help but cheer. "I always wanted to see a real-life dragon!"
"SPARKLES LOOMS OVER YOUR PARTY, EYEING HIS APPETIZER. WHAT WILL YOU DO?"
"Wait…WHAT?!" I yell. "THAT'S his name?! ARGH, nice goin, you ruined the mood! That's so lame! Why couldn't it be something cool like Smolderbreath or Blackheart or Deatheater or something from Middle Earth or Azeroth?! Then I'd be more willing to slash at it with my twin blades!"
"ROLL TO SEE IF YOUR ATTACK LANDS!"
A 20-sided die is magicked into my hand, the dragon ready for battle. Hey, there's no numbers on it! It's blank!
"Well, if that's how you want to play…"
I throw the dice as hard as I can, and it comes to a stop at the dragon's foot. Then, the numbers magically appear. And I…rolled a 1.
Ulp.
"A MISS! SPARKLES RETALIATES WITH A POWERFUL STREAM OF DRACONIC FLAME!"
The dragon crushes the die and then lets loose with immense flame, but Sue's shield and Eddie's magic manages to hold against it.
"This would be so cool if it wasn't trying to kill us!" I hear Brad scream.
"Not cool! Hot! TOO hot!" Jane adds.
"COMBAT TURNS ARE ELIMINATED! YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. GOOD LUCK, ADVENTURERS! FOR YOU WILL NEED IT…"
Sparkles only glares at us, his eyes narrowing in an angered fashion.
"You know what?" I told him. "I'm giving you a much cooler name! How about Dovahkiin? That work?"
He only swings his tail, which I manage to dodge.
"Okay fine! Dracarys?"
He tries stomping me, but I avoid that too.
"Black Death?"
That only has me narrowly avoiding a bite as the others try surrounding him.
"Wait, I got it! Sparker! Yeah, that'll do!"
Sue manages to teleport the statue kids out of the cage, then throws an ethereal arcane copy of her sword at the rope holding it, making it crash down on Sparker, making him emit a roar of anger. And even though I'm right in front of it, it doesn't seem to have a blind spot, because it can still see me!
Eddie manages to distract him by poking him in the back with his rapier, then holding on for dear life as Sparker begins flying all over the place trying to throw him off.
"WOOOO-HOOOO! I! ALWAYS! WANTED! TO RIDE! ONE OF! THESE THINGS! WAAAAAAGH!"
"Ah. Good for him." Cory notes.
"WOAH!"
He's forced to leap onto a nearby massive pile of gold to avoid being smashed against a wall, and end up tumbling all the way down. Yeah, it's WAY harder than it looks to swim in it.
Oh, and our older siblings are freaking out over this. Yeah, if I saw a real dragon for the first time, I'd run and hide too. Wait…this IS the first time I'm seeing a real dragon!
Ah well, I've got the more awesome weapons!
Cory manages to block another fire breath, and after enchanting one of my blades, I whistle to get the beast's attention. Once it turns, I toss the sword right into its belly, classic dragon slayer style!
Only for it to grab the sword with its jaws and yank it out.
"AW COME ON! THAT ALWAYS WORKS!"
It only prepares another fire breath…
And then disintegrates into ash.
"Uhhhhhh…."
We then notice where Brad and Jane had run off to, and they had accidentally burned one of Brad's cards in some leftover flames from Sparker's breath.
"I…I had NO idea they could do that." He protests. "But hey, no more dragon, right?"
Suddenly, there's a poof, and suddenly we see a man sitting on the throne. He has wavy white hair parted in the middle, and a white mustache that stands out straight from both sides of his red face. He also has mean blue eyes that always seem to be glaring angrily. And it looks like he's wearing some kind of Indian djinn clothing. He's got a big Indian hat with black and red clothing.
"Well, as shocking as it may be due to it because of your obliviousness and clumsiness, you've done it. You discovered the dragon's weakness and used it against him." He says. "However…there is still one final boss in this dungeon that you must face."
He stands up, and then uses some red magic to summon all kinds of cards to his side. He then throws them, and they land on the ground before summoning monsters from them! All kinds of fantasy creatures! Krells, Goths, Knights, Jekels, Barboarians, and Stelks!
"Me."
"So…you must be Mr. Zarwid." Cory says, recognizing the voice. "Seems kinda obvious. The final boss of a dungeon being the Dungeon Master himself."
"Oh, but this is my game, so you must play by MY rules. And they can be hardly…fair. But that is what is required. To make you be afraid!"
He fires a magic crimson orb, which Cory only slices apart with a single swing of his blade.
"Well, it's working. Hunters like us fight BECAUSE we're afraid. In plain English, you're just bringing about your own downfall! Not the fearful results you were expecting, right?"
"Ah, so all those brave heroes fought by embracing their fear. Sadly, you may as well be joining the rest of them! It seems I am the only one that can finish the story! Fitting, since I am the one WRITING IT!"
He fires again, with Sue blocking the red orb with her own magic shield glyph, while the rest of us end up facing the monsters.
Of course, thanks to my magic sense, Zarwid's locked us in some kind of Restriction Bind. Which means we can't change the rules or use our imagination to "cheat". So much for beating the boss at his own game!
His magic seems skilled, too. On a level only Morgred could match. At least we've been practicing!
We easily take down the card monsters, but Zarwid himself is in a whole different league! Thankfully, Sue's gotten down more training with Eddie than Cory and I ever did. It's safe to say that she's battled sorcerers and wizards before.
She manages to overpower Zarwid, but another held out palm casts another spell that suddenly makes her freeze. No, it's no paralyzing or fear spell. Against her will, it seems, Sue suddenly drops her sword.
"T…This is…" She sounds shocked.
"Blood Magic…it can't be!" Eddie finishes.
"I have your uncle to thank for that, for he taught me as an acolyte in his ways…"
On the back of his hand, I notice something: An upside down pentagram forms, as red as blood.
"The Blood Cult!" Sue recognizes as she's forced to walk back. "You're one of them!"
"Right now I control the very blood within you. Pulling the puppet's strings. But I can do more. I can form any blood spilled into any weapon construct, I can drain your very life, and I can regenerate any wound you inflict upon me."
"So there's only one reason you don't finish me off now." Sue summarizes. "Your strategy involves intimidation, not murder. You seek to fill the mind with enough fear to force a surrender. And thanks to the cult's teachings, you learned how to do just that with the ways of dark magic. But given how you are non-lethal in a cult obsessed with blood and murder…like Cory said, your methods are flawed!"
The rest of us notice right before Zarwid can. Using her magic, Sue levitates her sword like a Jedi (minus the hand stuff), and it ends up slashing his wizard's back. Or more specifically, what is ON his back.
Pieces of sliced cards fall out, all of them with the same dragon symbol.
"I wasn't taught as a strategist for nothing." Sue continues. "You had the magic cards needed to become a dragon yourself, and you had the minions stall for time until you gathered enough magic to cast that transformation spell. Luckily I was able to see through that trick like you were a cheap magician."
"Hmph. You're more clever than I thought, princess." Zarwid says, magically sliding the cards back in a box. "But this is far from over. Once I manage to create more similar cards, I will regain this power. In the meantime, Slappy can have you deal with his OTHER monsters, while Robert continues growing stronger. In fact, he'll be a part of something that is sure to bring about your end. If you still do not fear him or any other allies of Slappy…then you will be forcing our hands."
And with the snap of his fingers, he poofs away in a cloud of red smoke. Well, that's the boss defeated! Just like that, the statues crumble to reveal the kids inside.
Cory and I have been looking at the Missing People sections of the newspapers, so of course we know who these guys are. Connor Buckley, Emily Zinman (who I recall was a cousin to Jillian Zinman), Kyle Boots, Mark, Amy, Ross, and Brenda. All of them were last seen as a garage sale.
"What…happened?" Connor groans. "Are we…still inside the game?"
"Don't know if you had any fun, but I sure did." I say. "Saw your pics in some Missing posters. Long story as to why we're here. So, why don't we get you back to your homes?"
"And…how do we do that?" Ross asks.
"Well, I'm sure there's gotta be a portal or a flash of light or…something." Weird…why hasn't it happened yet?
Suddenly, I feel a massive gust of wind pick up, and we're suddenly whisked into the sky like being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner! A rift opens in the sky and we're hurled straight into it!
And just like that, I feel myself land right back on the kitchen table where we were playing the game. The book then spits out Cory, Brad, Jane, Sue, and Eddie, all while teleporting the seven kids outside the house.
And then, the Mystic Manuscript just lays there, the pages now a completely blank slate. The Be Afraid game also seems to be void of all magic, too.
"Aw yeah! Bonus reward!" I snatched it. "One more to add to the collection! Best Game Night Ever!"
Sure, there'll be something that'll top this moment. Whether it's sooner or later, I can't wait for that awesome moment to arrive…
