alices_nightmare
Page 18
JABBERWOCKCOMBAT 12 ENDURANCE 21
If Alice somehow manages to slay the Jabberwock, turn to 520.
419
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” Alice chants. “Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!”
The blood-curdling howl Alice first heard within the tulgey wood comes again, only it sounds much closer now. Alice can’t help but give a cry of fear, whilst the Jubjub bird takes off in a panic, considering it safer to be in the air than remain on the ground and face whatever it is that is coming this way.
Turn to 408.
420
The path turns again and Alice comes upon the statue of a kitten. “She looks just like my dear Dinah,” Alice remarks, sniffing back her tears. Do you want Alice to go north (turn to 127) or west (turn to 430).
421
Unlocking the door, Alice eases open the iron-banded oak door, and peers into the darkened cell that lies on the other side.
Lying upon a bed of rotten straw, its head resting on one outstretched leg, is a curious beast that is half-eagle and half-lion. Startled by the sudden shaft of light that is cast through the open door, the Gryphon lifts its head from its leg and blinks myopically at the child.
“Alice?” it says in astonishment. “Is that really you?”
“Yes, I’m Alice,” says Alice.
“But what brings you back to Wonderland?” asks the mythical beast.
“I’m not really sure, other than everyone keeps telling me I have to kill the Queen. Was it her who imprisoned you here?”
“It was,” replies the Gryphon, hanging its head in shame. “I think she intended to send me to see the Carpenter.”
“The Carpenter?”
“It’s best you don’t ask.”
And then an idea strikes Alice like a thunderbolt. “You could help me, a big strong beast like you.”
“I can’t thank you enough, young lady, for freeing me from my incarceration,” states the Gryphon, “but I can’t stay here a moment longer. I couldn’t bear to be captured again!”
And with that the Gryphon takes off, back the way Alice has just come, half-flying and half-leaping down the corridor.
But the Gryphon has left something behind on the floor at Alice’s feet. It is a shimmering golden feather. Picking it up, marvelling at the way it shines in the light of the torches that line the passageway, Alice puts it in her pocket for safekeeping.
Add the Gryphon’s Golden Feather to Alice’s Adventure Sheet, and turn to 431.
422
The climb is harder, and takes Alice longer, than she had anticipated, but finally she reaches the ledge upon which rests the ramshackle nest. It is even bigger up close than it appeared when she was standing at the bottom of the cliff-face.
It is much easier for Alice to climb into the nest, using the branches from which it has been randomly constructed to aid her. The interior is lined with feathery down, which looks like is comes from a very large bird indeed, and swags of moss. However, there are no eggs in the nest, only the bones of whatever its inhabitant last ate.
Alice starts, as a discordant cry echoes over the island’s peak and she turns in time to see the nest’s owner returning.
The bird is massive beyond all measure – “Like something out of the Arabian Nights!” exclaims Alice. As the bird swoops down to land, its terrible tearing talons raised ready to strike, Alice finds herself in fear of her life once again.
If you want Alice to use The Pen is Mightier ability, and she still can, turn to 419. If not, turn to 451.
423
The gardeners are gone, their rose bushes left untended. Perhaps choosing a way Alice hasn’t been before, will you send her off east into the maze (turn to 490) or west (turn to 272)?
424
Alice does her best to dodge the flying frying-pan but isn’t quite quick enough; the handle delivers her a glancing blow to the temple.
Lose 2 Endurance points and decrease both Alice’s Combat and Logic scores by 1 point.
Now turn to 384.
425
The key fits the lock perfectly; the tumblers turn and the door opens. Beyond it lies a passage, and beyond that the loveliest garden Alice has ever seen, with well-tended lawns, beds of bright flowers, and cool, sparkling fountains.
If you think Alice should make her way down the passage into the garden, turn to 136. If you think she should look inside the little glass box first, turn to 260.
426
Unable to pick the lock, Alice is forced to give up when one of the bent hair clips snaps and the nail file becomes wedged in the lock.
Unable to escape, Alice makes herself comfortable, as best she can, in the corner of the cell and waits. And waits. And waits. But no one comes, no matter how much she howls, or screams, or begs. She is simply left there, forgotten, a prisoner of her own mind, while, back in the waking world, her physical form is usurped by another, who brings mayhem and madness wherever she goes…
Alice’s adventure in Wonderland is over, but the true Nightmare is only just beginning.
THE END
427
As Alice makes her way along the pathway the puffballs begin to encroach upon the trail until Alice is afraid that she might accidentally cause one of them to release its spores as she eases her way past.
Take an Agility test. If Alice passes, turn to 437. If she fails, turn to 448.
428
Fenced in on all sides by the advancing topiary, Alice must fight the hedge-born horrors (which have the initiative) at the same time.
COMBAT ENDURANCE
UNICORN 8 6
LION 9 7
WYVERN 7 6
If Alice defeats the garden’s guardians, she is able to continue on her way at last – turn to 146.
429
“Riddle me this, riddle me that,” Alice says. “Why, that is a tricky riddle indeed.”
She looks at the sundial again. “I suppose if I could work out the answer to the riddle I should spell it out by turning the gnomon to line up with each letter in turn, until I have spelt out the whole word.”
Can you help Alice solve the riddle of the sundial? If so, turn each of the letters in the answer into a number using the code A=1, B=2… Z=26, add the numbers together and then turn to the paragraph with the same number. (If the paragraph makes no sense, you have failed to answer the riddle correctly and will have to return here.)
If you are unable to answer the riddle, Alice has no choice but to continue on her way (turn to 31).
430
Alice remembers her Governess once telling her that Pliny’s Natural History mentions four ancient labyrinths: the Cretan labyrinth, an Egyptian labyrinth, a Lemnian labyrinth, and an Italian labyrinth.
Coming to another junction, should Alice go:
East? Turn to 420.
South? Turn to 490.
West? Turn to 470.
431
Continuing to explore the Palace, Alice travels along torch-lit corridors and up and down flights of stairs until she climbs a broad set of stone steps and comes at last to the entrance to the throne room.
Standing in front of a set of double doors, painted gold and inset with rubies that form a myriad glittering hearts, is a huge, ogre-like figure. It is wearing a straining tabard that marks it out as the Ace of Clubs and its head is partially covered by a black hood.
The Guard stands with his hands resting on the haft of a huge axe, the heavy blade resting on the stone-flagged floor at his feet.
“I suppose you’re the Royal Executioner!” Alice challenges the burly brute.
“You suppose right,” says the Ace of Spades, “so I expect you can also guess what’s coming next,” he chuckles as he hefts the axe in his hands.
“Off with her head?” Alice hazards.
The Executioner just laughs and advances on the poor child, axe raised.
If she is still able to use The Pen is Mightier ability, and you want Alice to do so now, turn to 441. If not, turn to 471.
432
“You are old,” says the child, “as I noticed before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door –
Pray, what is the reason of that?”
“In my youth,” says the sage, as he shakes his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment – one shilling the box –
Allow me to give you a couple!”
The old man offers Alice two boxes of ‘Dr Lutwidge’s Ligament Lubricator’ and Alice pops them into the pocket of her pinafore dress. In the future, if Alice has to take an Agility test, you can cross off one of the boxes and Alice will automatically pass the test.
And now the curious old man is standing there balancing a writhing eel on the end of his nose.
“You are old,” says the child, “one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose —
What made you so awfully clever?”
“I have answered your question, and that is enough,”
Says the old man; “don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!”
With that, the mists return until Alice can barely see her hand in front of her face. And then she opens her eyes…
Turn to 357.
433
“You’d better not talk!” says Five, as Alice cautiously skirts the edge of the rose garden, trying to stay out of sight of the gardeners. “I heard the Queen say only yesterday you deserved to be beheaded!”
“What for?” says Two, the one who spoke first.
“That’s none of your business, Two!” says Seven.
Take an Agility test and if Alice passes the test, turn to 443, but if she fails, turn to 262.
434
(Cross off one of the Curiouser and Curiouser boxes on Alice’s Adventure Sheet.)
“Well this is a strange state of affairs, I must say,” Alice says, furiously treading water in order to keep her head above the waves. “One minute I’m in an underground hallway, the next I’m in the middle of the sea with not a wall, or door, or rabbit-hole in sight. I suppose a ship will appear out of nowhere next.”
Turn to 460.
435
No matter how long she stares at the gate and its locks, Alice cannot see a pattern to their arrangement.
Can you help her? If you can solve the puzzle, turn to the number that is the same as the total you reach when you add up all of the numbers that the hour hands should be pointing to. If not (or if the paragraph you turn to doesn’t make any sense, meaning you have got the answer wrong), turn to 455.
436
Listening carefully as she manipulates her improvised picks in the lock, Alice finally hears a click and the door to her cell opens. Having checked that the way is clear, Alice heads off into the Palace without further delay.
Turn to 342.
437
Alice carefully picks her way past the remaining puffballs and breathes a heartfelt – and spore-free – sigh of relief. Leaving the patch of puffballs behind, she finally emerges from the fungus forest.
She is standing at the top of a steep slope. Below her, at the bottom of the incline, to the north, on the other side of a rickety fence, she can see a curious house, with chimneys shaped like ears and its roof apparently thatched with fur. To the north-west there stands a grand house built in the Palladian style. Beyond the cottage Alice can see the towering yew hedge walls of a maze that appears to cover acres of ground.
In which direction should Alice go now? To head towards the grand house, turn to 319. To make for the fur-thatched cottage, turn to 216.
438
Pulling the jar from her pocket and unscrewing the lid, Alice empties its contents over the slimy bodies of the creatures. They hiss even louder but they also start to writhe about as if in pain, almost tying themselves in knots in the process. Repelled by the stinging pellets, the creatures slip back into their watery hole, leaving Alice free to pass by unmolested.
Turn to 286.
439
The Wyvern is the first to lunge at Alice, but she manages to duck and instead the shrub-beast closes its prickle-filled jaws around the Unicorn’s foreleg. In anger and pain, the Unicorn kicks out, catching the Lion in the face with its trimmed-hedge hooves.
Soon all three of the unreal monsters are fighting among themselves until all that is left of them are broken twigs and scattered leaves. With a sigh of relief, Alice sets off again along the garden path – turn to 146.
440
“Help!” Alice shouts, as she furiously treads water, in order to keep her head above the waves. “Mayday! SOS! I appear to be all at sea without the aid of a lifebelt. Or even a lifeboat for that matter,” she adds to herself. “Help!”
Turn to 460.
441
With a mighty roar, the Executioner raises the enormous axe above his head, ready to bring it down on Alice’s neck, but suddenly trips on an uneven flagstone at the top of the steps. Unbalancing, the brute tumbles forwards down the stairs, the axe tumbling after him.
By the time the Ace of Spades reaches the bottom of the steps, Executioner and axe have been reunited, although, admittedly, the axe is now buried in the Royal Executioner’s head.
Turn to 456.
442
“You are old,” says the child, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak –
Pray how did you manage to do it?”
“In my youth,” said the sage, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”
The old man starts to gnash his teeth, as if to prove the point, and then a hideous transformation overcomes him as the mists return. His features flatten and bright orange fur bursts from his face. His eyes turn yellow and his teeth become large fangs as he opens his mouth wider and wider and gives voice to a savage roar.
Turn to 452.
443
Leaving the gardeners to their bickering, which way does Alice go as she leaves the rose garden? East (turn to 490) or west (turn to 272)?
444
Bending over backwards, Alice dodges the spinning pan as it hurtles past her head. Now turn to 384.
445
Being only ten inches high, Alice doesn’t have a hope of opening any of the other doors, whether they are unlocked or not. As she is gazing across the acres of tiled floor, wondering what to do next, something scuttles out from the darkness under a door.
Although she is, in general, a sensible child, Alice is not particularly fond of spiders. However, now that the spider is the size of an Alsatian, compared to her, the spinal-chill of dread fills her body and soul. Possibly considering the child a potential source of food, the eight-legged fiend stalks towards her, its long bristle-haired limbs moving in an eerily independent fashion. Fearing for her safety, Alice knows that she has to act decisively, and fast.
If you think she should prepare to defend herself, turn to 382. If you would rather she used The Pen is Mightier ability, turn to 362.
446
Alice gazes up at the grim-looking edifice before her. Despite the proliferation of hearts in its architecture – from its flying buttresses, to its crenulations,
to its arrow-slits and stained glass windows – Alice has never seen a more sinister structure. The terracotta tiles of its sunken roofs are cracked, and entirely missing in some places, while black carrion birds circle its battlements having made their roosts atop the high walls.
The Palace is surrounded by a moat that is filled with brackish brown water, choked with waterweed and clogged with the bloated white bodies of dead fish and frogs. However, it will be no trouble for Alice to cross the disgusting morass that is the moat since the drawbridge is down, and, having done so, Alice discovers that the gates of the stronghold are open.
Warily Alice eases her way between the towering gates, convinced that she will run into a guard patrol, or maybe a guard dog, at any moment. But an eerie stillness hangs over the place, and Alice could almost believe that it is, in fact, deserted.
Alice heads off into the Palace… Turn to 342.
447
A keening wail howls about the battlements of the stronghold, as if the place is haunted by the spirits of those stony sentinels who now keep their eternal vigil over the fortress.
Alice makes it to the entrance to the keep without meeting any opposition and, heaving open the age-worn door, weathered to the colour of old teeth, makes her way inside. Finding herself at the bottom of a spiral stone staircase, Alice begins her ascent, making her way up through the tower.