324
Leaving the pond, which way should Alice go? East (turn to 210) or west (turn to 510)?
325
As the beast prowls towards her, Alice prepares to use the Vorpal Sword to defend herself once again. (The Bandersnatch has the initiative.)
BANDERSNATCHCOMBAT 11 ENDURANCE 10
If Alice manages to kill the creature, turn to 268.
326
Alice hears a buzzing, almost right in her ear, and a large wasp flies out of the wig Alice is wearing – and suddenly Alice has a mad idea!
If Alice has a tot of Shrinking Potion, turn to 491. If not, there’s no use Alice getting a bee in her bonnet about it, she will just have to abandon her mad idea; turn to 305.
327
Sitting herself down in the large arm-chair, Alice surveys the delights spread out before her. There are plates of cucumber sandwiches, jam tarts and slices of pink and yellow sponge cake wrapped up in a layer of marzipan, and a large teapot, of course. There is also all manner of cutlery, including a large bread-knife, and the silver tea tray used to bring everything to the table.
What should Alice do now?
Pour herself a cup of tea? Turn to 338.
Prepare herself a picnic? Turn to 349.
Pick up the bread-knife? Turn to 359.
Take a closer look at the tea tray? Turn to 369.
Leave the table and be on her way? Turn to 15.
328
Rallying, the Alice-Jabberwock gives a roar of fury and launches itself at Alice across the chessboard plain. “And now you die!” the monster roars.
Preparing to fight for her life one last time, Alice readies herself for her final battle.
(Alice has the initiative in this battle, but the Vorpal Sword will only cause 3 Endurance points of damage to the monster’s iron-hard scales, rather than the usual 4.)
JABBERWOCKCOMBAT 10 ENDURANCE 15
If Alice manages to slay the Jabberwock, turn to 520.
329
The key is very finely wrought, but it is far too small to open any of the locked doors Alice has come across so far. Nonetheless, she drops it into the pocket in the front of her pinafore for safe keeping, just in case. (Record the Golden Key on Alice’s Adventure Sheet.)
What would you like Alice to do now?
Drink the contents of the bottle? Turn to 387.
Open the little glass box? Turn to 3.
Keep trying the doors around the hall? Turn to 339.
330
The statue of a tortoise, its shell covered with patches of moss, has been positioned at another of the maze’s interminable turnings. Its head seems to be pointing westwards.
Which way should Alice go now?
North? Turn to 300.
West? Turn to 274.
331
Alice makes it to the other side, landing back on the path, unscathed and still in one piece. Add 1 to her Agility score and turn to 361.
332
The flipper catches Alice across the face, drawing blood and sending her flying. She lands on the sand, amidst the discarded oyster shells, banging her head on a half-buried rock. Alice sits up woozily, her head spinning.
(Deduct 1 point from Alice’s Agility, Logic and Combat scores, and lose 2 Endurance points as well.)
Emitting a bullish bellow, the huge Walrus shuffles its way across the sand towards the addle-witted child, its savage intentions plain.
If Alice is still able to use The Pen is Mightier ability, now might be a good time to do so (turn to 394) otherwise she is somehow going to have to fight the beast (turn to 377).
333
Alice keeps running, whilst repeating over and over out loud, “I’ve been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk. I’ve been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk!”
And then, at long last, she is past the screaming flower beds, the storm clouds dissipate once more, and she finds herself at a parting of the ways. Turn to 344.
334
As Alice approaches the pond, a pair of bulbous eyes breaks the surface and with one almighty leap a huge frog hops out of the water and lands on the path in front of her. Opening a mouth as wide as Alice is tall, a whip-like tongue shoots out towards the child.
“Goodness me!” she gasps. “I do believe this frog considers me a fly and wishes to eat me!”
What should Alice do to protect herself? If you want her to use the Curiouser and Curiouser ability, turn to 385. If you want her to use The Pen is Mightier ability, turn to 345. If not, Alice will need to defend herself – turn to 375.
335
“Correct,” purrs the Cheshire Cat. “You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are. And now for my second question: Why is a raven like a writing desk?”
What should Alice say this time?
“Poe wrote on both!” Turn to 313.
“Because it can produce a few notes,
tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put
with the wrong end in front!” Turn to 354.
336
“Thank you but no thank you,” says Alice, who has been brought up to be polite to strangers, even if the strangers in question are gargantuan butterfly larvae.
Turning away from the mushroom she considers which way it is best to go now.
“Are you content now?” the Caterpillar calls after her. “Would you rather not know who you really are or why you have been drawn back to Wonderland?”
The Caterpillar is being very persistent; perhaps it would be wisest to take its advice.
If you think Alice is best off not eating or smoking anything out of the ordinary – she is, after all, only eleven years-old – turn to 316. If you think Alice should relent, do you think she should eat some of the mushroom (turn to 21) or take a puff on the pipe (turn to 346)?
337
Thunder rumbles across the glowering sky overhead and lightning flashes between the burgeoning storm clouds. With a crack loud enough to rend the sky in twain, a bolt of incandescent energy sears down from the heavens and strikes the Tumtum Tree.
Alice is momentarily blinded by the burst of actinic light. As the echoes of the thunderclap recede into the distance, so Alice’s vision returns. Before her stands the lifeless Tumtum Tree, its blackened trunk rent in two by the lightning strike that saved Alice’s life.
Turn to 307.
338
“Why, I’m quite parched,” Alice declares reaching for the teapot. As she does so the teapot hops out of the way.
Alice reaches for the teapot once again, and once again it skips away from her clutches. Only it is not the only thing on the table that is moving now; the cutlery has started to rattle loudly as it dances on the tablecloth.
Turn to 251.
339
Alice returns to testing the handles of the doors around the hall. She can think of no other way of getting out of this place now, after falling down the interminable rabbit-hole.
Suddenly a handle turns and the door she is trying opens a crack. However, it is at this exact moment that she spots a low curtain that she had not noticed before, covering the wall beside the unlocked door. Pulling back the drape reveals another door, only fifteen inches high, with a golden lock. This tiny door is locked.
If Alice has a Golden Key, and if you want her to try it in the golden lock, turn to 351. If not, she opens the other door instead (turn to 366).
340
The ground at Alice’s feet is now a well-tended green sward rather than gravel. As the pathway turns at a right-angle, Alice must once again decide which way she wants to go.
For Alice to go east, turn to 350. For Alice to head south, turn to 257.
341
Alice misjudges her leap and misses her landing
point, bouncing off the side of the next toadstool and tumbling down into the bottom of the stinking hollow. The mulch and mud break Alice’s fall, even if she does end up filthy from head to toe, but she is not out of danger yet.
The seething muck is alive with gigantic maggots. Their pulsating white bodies writhe and twist towards Alice as, thanks to some inexplicable preternatural sense, they detect her presence and wriggle towards her.
Alice sets off at a run, but before she can escape the pit of maggots she is bitten by their scissoring mandibles several times. Roll one die, divide the number rolled by two, rounding fractions up, and deduct this final total from Alice’s Endurance score. (Alternatively, pick a card – counting picture cards as being worth ten – divide the card’s value by four, round any fractions up, and deduct this total from Alice’s Endurance score.)
If Alice survives her brush with the gigantic fly larvae, turn to 361.
342
As Alice proceeds along yet another passageway, certain that she is heading towards the heart of the Palace, she hears voices coming from up ahead, and they are arguing with one another.
“I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!” a nasal voice snaps.
“It was the best butter,” comes a second, meek voice in reply.
“Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,” grumbles the first voice.
“You shouldn’t have put it in with the bread-knife,” yawns a third.
“But it was the best butter, you know,” comes the second again.
From out of the gloom at the other end of the passageway, emerges the most bizarre and horrifying amalgam of metal and living flesh Alice has ever seen.
The abomination standing before her now was quite clearly once three separate creatures – a man, a hare, and a dormouse – but now they have been made into one by some mad genius. All that is left of the three individuals are their heads, which have been mounted on top of a skeletal metal armature. The brass and steel components of its body have been constructed around a large kettle-like boiler, and steam gouts from its spout with every step the hideous automaton takes. There appears to be some form of grease dripping from the cogs and gears that make up the inner workings of the abomination.
The head of the Dormouse is clearly fighting the urge to doze off, while the hare’s eyes and ears twitch and jerk erratically. The man’s head, positioned between the other two, wears a top hat that is one size too big, and has a card bearing the words ‘In this Style 10/6’ tucked into the hatband.
It is the Hatter who is the first to catch sight of Alice.
“She’s here!” he shrieks, breaking off from his constant bickering. “Alice is here!”
“Off with her head!” screeches the Hare.
“Time for tea,” mutters the drowsy Dormouse.
It would appear that Alice must fight for her life once again. If you want her to use The Pen is Mightier ability, and she still can, turn to 392. If not, Alice must prepare for battle – turn to 372.
343
Turning to the thick undergrowth growing beside the path, Alice throws herself into cover among the nettles and ferns, and can’t help but be both scratched and stung by the pernicious plants. (Lose 1 Endurance point.)
Alice is forced to stifle a gasp as something huge and hideous emerges from the cave. It is vaguely humanoid in form but is clad only in animal skins. One strong arm it is dragging a massive club, made from a whole tree branch, and its muscular, malformed body is covered with a host of healed scars.
But what has attracted Alice’s attention, and has her shaking in an apoplexy of fear, is the fact that the lumbering brute has not one, but two heads, growing from lumpen necks upon its shoulders.
The two-headed Ogre sniffs the air sharply as if it has caught the scent of something – or should that be someone?
“Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, I smell the blood of human scum,” growls the head on the left.
“Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee, I’m gonna eat ‘im for my tea,” rumbles the head on the right, the Ogre coming closer to Alice’s hiding place with every thudding footfall.
Is Alice carrying some Cheese about her person? If so, turn to 75. If not, the Ogre stops, turns around, and then stomps off into the forest, following something else’s scent – turn to 501.
344
Alice looks about her in a daze after her traumatic encounter with the fearsome flowers. To her left, past a trellis walk bedecked with vivid purple wisteria, she can see the fountain. Ahead of her the hedges of the garden have been sculpted with shears and guiding bamboo canes to resemble all manner of exotic animals, while to her right is an open white wooden gate that leads, via a gravel path, to a neat little house.
To approach the fountain, turn to 51. To go through the gate to the right, turn to 2. To head for the topiary at the south-east corner of the garden, turn to 173.
345
The air is suddenly rent by a dreadful screeching cry that shocks Alice to her core and sends her scampering for the cover of a yew hedge. The huge Frog, equally startled, looks to the sky as a sinister shadow falls across the maze. Before it can hop out of the way, a huge bird – something like the Roc from the Voyages of Sinbad – swoops down, snatches the overgrown amphibian up in its mouth, and flies away again, its cry echoing from the distant hills as it flies away.
Alone again, and not wanting to linger here a moment longer, Alice hurries on her way, but which way does she go? East (turn to 210) or west (turn to 510)?
346
Tentatively putting the mouthpiece of the pipe between her lips, Alice breathes in and almost chokes on the sweet-tasting smoke that fills her mouth and throat. Once the coughing fit has subsided, she tries again.
Inhaling deeply, she closes her eyes as the smoke fills her lungs and curious, cloudy visions fill her mind…
She opens her eyes again – or is it her mind’s eye? – but sees nothing but shifting mist and coiling blue smoke. Then the fog banks part and Alice finds herself standing at the entrance to the rabbit-hole under the hedge again, peering down into darkness. She takes a step forwards, over the edge of the void, unable to stop herself, as if in a trance…
And then she is at the bottom of the hole. Before her is a long passage, and the White Rabbit is in sight, hurrying down it. Alice knows, somehow, that there is not a moment to be lost, and away she goes like the wind, and is just in time to hear the Rabbit say, as it turns a corner, “Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!” She is close behind it when she turns the corner…
And finds her way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves. She is just going to leave the room, when her eye falls upon a little bottle standing near the looking- glass. There is no label upon it but nevertheless she uncorks it and put it to her lips, and before she has drunk half the bottle, she finds her head pressed against the ceiling…
And Alice is looking up at a large mushroom, about the same height as herself; and when she has looked under it, and on both sides of it, and behind it, it occurs to her that she might as well look and see what is on the top of it.
Stretching herself up on tiptoe, Alice peeps over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately meet those of a large caterpillar that is sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah.
And the Caterpillar turns to her and says, “Alice you must come back now. Come back…” And its voice seems to be coming from both far away and all around her at the same time…
And then she is standing before a grand house set within acres of parkland, even as the mists start to thicken about her. “Whoever lives here?” wonders Alice in a dreamy way.
“Come back,” comes the Caterpillar’s distant voice again. “Come back…”
If you think Alice should answer the Caterpillar’s summons, turn to 357. If y
ou would rather Alice open the door and enter the palatial house instead, turn to 379.
347
The howl has Alice imagining all sorts of horrible things are out to get her, and she starts at every rustle in the undergrowth and every half-glimpsed shadow between the trees.
Add 1 to Alice’s Insanity score and turn to 367.
348
Alice deftly dodges the flailing flipper and takes a step back as the Walrus flops down onto the sand. Giving a gruff bark, the beast lollops towards her.
Strange scars criss-cross the animal’s body, some still displaying the pin-holes of stitch marks, and there is something unsettlingly human about the Walrus’s eyes, as if it was not always a Walrus. (Add 1 to Alice’s Insanity score.) But there is also a furious intent reflected in the creature’s human gaze, leaving Alice in no doubt as to what the Walrus intends.
If Alice is still able to use The Pen is Mightier ability, now might be a good time to do so (turn to 394), otherwise Alice is either going to have to fight the brute (turn to 377), or run for it (turn to 67).
349
Considering it wise to prepare a picnic to take with her on the journey that still lies ahead of her, Alice takes several of the triangular sandwiches, tarts and pieces of cake, wraps them in a napkin and pops them into her pocket.
Alice has enough provisions with her for four meals. Every time she eats a meal she can gain 4 Endurance points.
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