From
TES issue 20 (March 2003)
Series 6.
Quest: The Crown.
Dungeoneer: Sofia.
Advisors: Claire, Kim and Emma.
Home town: Bournemouth.
Team score: 9 out of 10.
A very high-quality quest from series 6, this one, which can still generate tension and excitement to this day.
Level One:
Hordriss appears on the quest screen before the adventure begins to warn
Treguard that
Lord Fear has secreted a dragon caller somewhere on level one so that he can entice his red
dragon - Red Death - to go there. The team's task, therefore, is to locate the dragon caller and find some way of getting it out of Fear's reach. After Sofia has stepped on the Crown - which Ben II has redeemed only minutes earlier, by the way - in the
Hall of Choice she enters a clue room where she picks up a purse of
silver and a mysterious ring. Through the spyglass, the team see Lord Fear talking to
Julius Scaramonger in his pool about the dragon caller. It is revealed that Scaramonger has the device, and that Fear is keen for him to use it as soon as possible. Sofia next walks up some stairs and into a deserted room, where Treguard encourages them to experiment with the [
Ring of Power]. The team discover that it causes Sofia to grow larger when she wears it on the third finger of her left hand and rotates it. In the next room
Elita is sorting through a chest. Sofia tells her about the dragon caller and Elita is keen to help her get rid of it. Elita tells Sofia to call her if she finds the dragon caller, and gives her the combination for the
causeway. Some very dark
dwarf tunnels follow, leading to the causeway. Sofia is guided very well by Claire across the right numbers and reaches the door. Sofia then finds herself in
Wolfenden, where Julius Scaramonger is setting up his stall with the help of his servant, [
Young Grimwold]. Scaramonger clams up when Sofia asks him about the dragon caller, but the team notice that he is trying to hide an object that looks like a trumpet with a red cloth on it. By growing larger with the ring, Sofia scares Scaramonger and Grimwold away. She returns to the right size and takes the dragon caller, and in doing so is forced to abandon the silver on Scaramonger's stall. Sofia calls Elita, who takes the dragon caller and tells them that she will get rid of it in the
Caverns of Gore. Elita gives Sofia a dragon mint and tells her that the
password is the name of Scaramonger's servant. She also insults Sofia, who insults her back, which proves to be important later on. In the next chamber,
Dreadnort guards the large door to level two. The team have fortunately remembered that the name of the servant is
Grimwold, so they are able to pass Dreadnort. Through the door
Smirkenorff is waiting. He agrees to fly Sofia to level two in exchange for the dragon mint. They land in the ruins of a castle.
Level Two: The first task is to avoid a stormgeist in the dwarf tunnels, and then comes the clue room. Through the
spyglass the team see Lord Fear and
Skarkill. It is revealed that Fear has told Hordriss that Ridolfo has been trying to, shall we say, corrupt
Sidriss. Hordriss has apparently "taken care" of Ridolfo, who incidentally knows the password for level two. When Fear and Skarkill have finished badmouthing Hordriss and Ridolfo, Skarkill limps off to feed the dragon and the spyglass sequence ends. Sofia takes Ridolfo's [
lute] and yet another mysterious ring from the clue table before a stormgeist arrives and chases her out of the room. Sofia next arrives at a riverbank, where Ridolfo is loading a rowing boat with fishing equipment. Sofia gives him his guitar and he rows her across the [
Dunswater], where he tells her that Hordriss has transformed him into a fisherman from a musician, which for some reason means that he is unable to tell her the password. On the other side of the river is Witch Haven, where Sofia has to dodge
Peggatty's fireballs, and then meets Hordriss in
disguise as a
witch. ("Root and fen, Master, if that's a witch then I'm a
goblin!" -
Pickle.) Hordriss eventually agrees to remove the enchantment from Ridolfo in exchange for the [
Ring of Phobia], which he uses to reveal the causeway combination on the wall. The causeway follows, where the team speedily direct Sofia over the correct numbers. In the next room there is the door to the
Descender, but Dreadnort appears in front of it and demands the password. Ridolfo rushes in and provides the word - territory. Dreadnort is satisfied and clanks off. Ridolfo thanks Sofia for getting Hordriss to turn him back into a musician and kisses her hand before he leaves. The team then direct Sofia into the Descender, where there is another stormgeist to avoid. The lift stops and Sofia walks through a door into level three.
Level Three: Sofia picks up a gauntlet and a bar of gold from a clue table before facing Hordriss's entrance exam for aspiring sorcerer's apprentices. There are several applicants - including
Tiny the
hobgoblin - but there are only three questions to go around. Sofia and another person each answer one of Hordriss's questions correctly, but the team do not know the answer to the third question. It is provided by the other applicant, who receives a scroll from Hordriss. He gives Sofia a spyglass as a consolation prize, through which the team see Lord Fear talking to Greystagg in his pool. They are discussing the terms of their fateful proposed alliance. During the discussion, Fear reveals that the gauntlet Sofia has is actually something called the
Hand of Atrab, and is very powerful. Next Sofia meets Elita, who is still cross about being talked back to earlier. To make matters worse, Skarkill and two goblins arrive to take Sofia to
Mount Fear. Sofia has to apologise liberally to Elita in order to get her to help. When she is satisfied that Sofia has apologised enough, Elita enchants Skarkill by playing a set of
panpipes, whose music causes the goblin master to go dancing out of the room. Elita points Sofia in the right direction. She walks through a tunnel and reaches the Great Causeway, but the team do not know the combination because they didn't earn a diploma from Hordriss. The
life force symbol appears and the skeleton goes green and collapses as the hexagon Sofia is standing on drags her down to her doom. This was the second and last time that the end of a quest coincided with the end of an episode of Knightmare, which added to the feeling of great loss at a quest being cruelly ended so close to victory. Classic.
Summary: An excellent performance that probably deserved a win, but, as with many other teams, the lack of one right answer was enough to doom an otherwise high-quality quest.
[Previous team:
Team 5 of Series 6
Next team:
Team 7 of Series 6]
