From TES issue 48 (November 2007)
Series 6
Quest: The Crown.
Dungeoneer: January Payne. Advisors: Sarah, Sarah and Sian.
Home town: Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Team score: 5 out of 10.

This was a fairly average effort, really, although it has sparked interest in the past because January had to step in at the last moment when the intended dungeoneer (Sarah Halsall) broke her leg in a Norwich cinema.
Level One: After stepping on the Crown in the Hall of Choice, a dwarf tunnel brings January to a woodland path, where a very tiny Motley is waiting for her. He explains that Sidriss shrunk him after he made a move on her. Sidriss’s Cheshire cat is heard to be approaching, so Motley hides in a convenient box, which he asks January to pick up. January takes Motley with her, and he reveals his plan to find Sidriss and get her to turn him back to his normal size.
Outside the roundhouse at Holmgarth, January makes use of a spyglass, through which Lord Fear is seen talking to Hordriss in his pool. From the pair’s heated conversation, the team learn that Sidriss has been frozen by one of Fear’s evil spells. A scroll then reveals a clue for the causeway, as well as a palpable piece of advice about the objects that are on offer. From the collection of clue objects, January takes a pouch of Defrost powder, also retaining Motley, despite Treguard’s suggestion that the team might like to abandon him in favour of another clue object! Lord Fear’s enlarged hand attempts to block January’s path into the roundhouse, but she avoids it fairly easily. ”Lord Fear’s playing his hand!” – Treguard.
A quick trip across the causeway follows, and then January finds Sidriss at last, albeit in a state of stasis. The powder unfreezes Sidriss, who is very grateful to January for her rescue. There is barely time for Sidriss and Motley to get reacquainted before a goblin horn sounds, and a quick escape is required. Sidriss guides January through another dwarf tunnel, which leads to a stretch of water where a boat is tethered.
As Sidriss rows January across the water, she says that she will either grant a wish or reveal the password in return for her rescue. Motley persuades the team that they should wish to have him returned to his full size, which Sidriss grudgingly does outside a house in Wolfenden. Motley then reveals the password – storming – to the team, so everyone gets what they want in the end. In the final room of the level, Dreadnort is on guard and demands the password. January finds no trouble in getting rid of the metallic monster, and is able to enter the Descender. Despite the appearance of a stormgeist in the spellbound lift, January makes it safely down to level two. (Interestingly enough, this is the one and only occasion in series 6 or 7 that any method other than a flight on Smirkenorff was used to travel from level one to level two.)
Level Two: In the castle of Count Brinkatore, January releases Ridolfo from a pillory, in which he has been put as a punishment for being overfriendly with Lady Brinkatore. Ridolfo accompanies January to the clue room, where he reveals the secret of the causeway before making a quick exit. Through a spyglass, the team see Lord Fear telling Sylvester Hands to go out and look for a ring that he has lost. The advisors are quick to realise that the ring in question is, in fact, on the clue table in front of January, and wisely decide to take it. (Despite Fear’s elucidations about what would happen if anyone tried to use the ring, however, they do not wisely decide to use it later in the quest.)
In addition to the ring, January picks up a red gem from the table, and is chased out of the clue room by another stormgeist. A dwarf tunnel brings January to a castle entrance, where she meets Julius Scaramonger: ”January, oh right. Come for the sales, have you?” – Julius Scaramonger. He is keen to trade with January for Lord Fear’s ring, but she eventually persuades him to take the red stone instead. In return, Julius offers the choice of witch amber or a spell to turn swords rusty.

The team are supposed to take the witch amber, of course, but they are far too slow to decide, so Julius hands January the spell scroll and makes a quick exit. Doubtless the quest is now in losing status, as the witch amber would surely have been needed in Witch Haven, but January’s demise takes place rather sooner than anyone had imagined, as she meets up with Sylvester Hands. In this situation, the team should have used Lord Fear’s ring, but they just don’t realise what they’re supposed to do! Exactly what effect the ring would have had on January, we may never know, although (going on what Fear said to Hands through the spyglass) it may have turned January into a copy of Lord Fear, very much like what happened to Daniel in the Sewers of Goth two years later. [See: Fearsome]
Anyway, January reveals to Hands that she has the ring, whereupon he whips out his magic rope, slips it over her head, and begins to drag her off to Mount Fear! This is an important scene for Hands, as it shows him at his most ruthless and least comical: ”The ring wasn’t for selling, girls; it was for using! And if only you’d used it, you’d still be with us.” – Treguard.
Summary: A fair enough effort, although nothing special. Indecision and inaction caused their eventual downfall.

[Previous team: Team 3 of Series 6
Next team: Team 5 of Series 6]

login to vote