Guestbook

1

It is finally at sight, although its image is heavily distorted by the furious storm. The temple of Totenchak is sprawling before your eyes, encased in the mountain like a wasp's nest. The last stage of your arduous journey is crossing the gap between the foresummit you climbed and the main side of the mountain where the goal of your journey lies. Being 500 feet long, the bridge is made of two lengths of taut Hashayak leather cord, one of top on another. The four ends are typically tied with a loose running knot, which tightens when temperature goes below zero. This is the case today and your ordeal is made all the more clear as the biting wind smites the core of your being. As a man of the cloth and exorcist worshipping the goddess of Lightning, you mutter a prayer, in an attempt to appease the anger of Suhk. Ever since the Popess's followers have formed the wish to bring her back, His anger has exploded in intensity. The very existence of the mistress of the infernal heights is a blasphemy to Him. While transfixed with cold, your prayer makes the whole ordeal seems a little less of a chastisement on you.
Soon, you find yourself halfway in the cord bridge. Every four sidesteps, you have to sweep the thin layer of snow heaping up across your face. Your sense of sight is not required, but the unpleasant sensation settling in on top of your cheek bones compels you so. It is yet nothing in comparison to the bridge crossing method, as it is an already physically gruelling task during more lenient weather. Looking downward is an ever going temptation. However, it only returns the promise of serrated reliefs, as sharp as the bared fangs of a snow wolf, certain to maul any hapless traveller falling down. That is why you have to mentally focus on your prayer, while counting the knotted section you graze through with a sweeping motion of your hand. These knots have no meaning other than punctuating any recited mantra. Thus, even passing the bridge becomes an integral part of the liturgical experience of the setting. You understand it as a way to eliminate fear and ascertain faith in heart. Deep down, you admire the Totenchakans for their determination to live such a difficult and ascetic life. That is why you have hard time to understand what is currently going on... Why men of such rigorous character have stopped acknowledging Salamonis? Are the rumors about the Order of the Azurean Horde hiding in Totenchak founded? It is something you are most eager to find out, as you are nearing the end of the ropes. Then, at long last, you make your last sidesteps and grip the rock column around which they are are fastened. You smile with relief as you ended the trek with your life safe, your right foot getting its first taster of solid ground. There's hardly any happier hard confirmation than this. You prick up your ears: obviously, nobody is going to greet you as the news of your coming was not relayed. Alongside the snow mantle squeaking under your heels, the wailing of the wind is the only sound you can make out. You squint and focus sight, eyes battered by the harsh elements, to get a comprehensive look around. Before you, the wide stairway to the first terrace of the temple stands. With the snow storm raging, it is impossible to see past the end of the last step. The stairway is encircled by two walls. The right side post is ornate, featuring a carved representation of Libra, the goddess of Justice. As for the left side, symbolically that of the path winding to wickedness, you see the archetypical depiction of a demon, grasping a skull. It is difficult to discern its contours as they are covered with icicles, since the monks regularly pour holy white wine on it, as routine purification to ward off evil. Farther to the left, the wall extends until it blends into the mountain proper. You see a carved path weaving through the rock formation to wrap around the temple's main floor. It is steep and narrow, but definitively passable for a human being, as far as you can tell. Will You: Inspect the left post? (go to 129) Inspect the right post? (go to 183) Ignore the two posts and directly follow the stairway (go to 31) Walk along the left wall to take the steep path going upward (go to 141)

1) Maybe it is too much of game book addressed to House of Hell's fans. Which means, the gamebook concept could have been more loosely based on House of Hell, while introducing major innovations. As it is, Pravemi is too much of a Kelnor clone, instead of his own quirky villain. The fact that the mansion also shelters a group of cultists doesn't help the gamebook to noticeably stand out. If fostering a sense of nostalgia was the objective of the gamebook, it worked. But I can't help but think this could have been so much more...

2) The adventure seems a little too linear and doesn't really branch out much in-depth. Most of the time you just get to open doors, exit rooms and walk in hallways. HoH had this aspect as well to an extent, but the storytelling managed to flow well enough to make you forget about this shortcoming. Though, I think it was a great idea to have the main character use often his sense of hearing. It was something that was mostly missing in Steve Jackson's book.

3) The marked door signs in general gives away too much the function of the room. When I decided to avoid them in my first plays, I was confirmed in my initial mistrust, when I finally got to open them in my retries. Perhaps it's because I have a vague understanding of Italian language, who knows? To compare with House of Hell, you cannot, for example, predict on your first play what "Asmodeus" has in store for you or why it is locked with the key on its keyhole.

4) Would have been great to flesh out a little more count Pravemi's false sense of hospitality. In this adventure, you pretty much only share a small talk around an aperitif drink, he makes you wait and then directly sends you away in your bedroom. For instance, I think it'd have helped, if we saw Pravemi feigning to take interest on the main character's presentation. His behavior doesn't seem to fully add up with the eagerness he has to lure you inside. In House of Hell, Kelnor takes time to share dinner and fake to sympathize with your situation. It makes him seem more deceptively innocent...

Aside from these four point, the gamebook has fantastic ideas here and there. I see a lot of potential for creative expansion. The unhinged old soccer fan, the mysterious long deceased daughter being still around, the cursed leisure room, the creative decision to have Shekkou being part of the mansion at the time are some of the nicest plot elements.