The GrailQuest Bestiary: Part III

If you've just joined us, over the previous two articles of this series I've been listing all the monster encounters in the GrailQuest gamebooks of the 1980s; Part I and Part II can be found in those links I've just made, and this concluding article starts off with the last two books in the series.

7. Tomb of Nightmares

Opponent	LIFE POINTS	Strikes on	Damage bonus	Armour	Notes
Zombies (2)	25	6	+2	None	If either Zombie rolls a 12, they will infect you with rot which will cause you to lose 3 LIFE POINTS per round of combat or new section entered until you take a swig of healing potion
Lizard Man (1 + 1d6; i.e. there’s one to start with, then one die roll’s worth turns up at the start of combat)	15	6	+3	None	If any Lizard Man rolls a 12, you will be poisoned, causing you to lose 3 LIFE POINTS per round of combat for the rest of the fight
Vampires (2)	22	5	+3	None	If either Vampire rolls a 12, you will temporarily become a Vampire yourself and spend the next combat round trying to fang yourself in the throat at the cost of 5 LIFE POINTS instead of striking back
Screaming Green Mummies (2)	25	5	None	None	Any roll of 12 (are we sensing a pattern developing here?) by either Mummy will kill you outright by screaming
Dragon on Budgie Perch	45	4	+3	None	Will breathe fire if it rolls 10 or better, for +10 damage
Giant Lizards (4)	35	6	+2	None	Any roll of 3, 6, 9 or 12 and their tongues flick out and hold you immobile for the next combat round
Demon Statue	35	4	+4	-3	None
Giant Spider	55	5	+3	None	You are trapped in its web throughout this combat, and this combined with E.J.’s fear of spiders means you need to roll 6 or better to hit and do only +1 damage. Furthermore, if the Spider ever rolls a 12 it will kill you outright by poisoning
Crab	33	5	+1	-4	If the Crab rolls a 10 or better it will poison you, causing you to lose 3 LIFE POINTS per combat round or new section entered until you take three doses of healing potion
Fishface (a creature with the head of a fish and body of a man, if you were wondering)	50	5	None	None	Any roll of 9 or better and he will use his magic wand to kill you outright by drowning
Werewolf	25	6	+3	-2 (does not apply if you have a silver sword)	When killed, immediately revives in human form who must be fought again (has identical statistics to the Werewolf)
Vampires (1d6)	20	5	+2	None	If any Vampire rolls a 12, they will paralyse you for the next three combat rounds
Draculina	40	4	None, but after the first time she hits you successfully you will lose 3 LIFE POINTS per combat round	None	None
Vampire Bats (2d6)	5	4	Causes 3 LIFE POINTS of damage per hit regardless of what the dice say	None	None
Demon	30	5	+3	-2	None
Fido (“a nightmare creature somewhat resembling a hairy octopus with poison fangs and horn-rimmed spectacles”)	30	4	+1	None	Has two attacks to your one on account of all the extra arms
Troll	12	6	Has a magic crystal dagger which will kill you outright with a single blow	None	None apart from the whole instant death thing
Lizard	40	4	+3	None	None
Flying Wyrms (2)	15	6	+2	None	Are so difficult to hit you need to roll a 7 or better to do so regardless of your weapon
Golden Vampire	50 LIFE/DEATH POINTS	4	+3	None	Will kill you outright on any roll of 12, but can be brought under your control and fight on your behalf in future combats with a clove of golden garlic
Skull	18	Has an infinite supply of Firefinger lightning bolts (which always hit and do 10 direct LIFE POINTS’ worth of damage)
Grott the Hoddle	25	5	+3	None	Knows every spell in your own spellbook “and will certainly use any or all of them to make the fight interesting”. (See here for this and other flaws with this combat.) Comes back to life twice after being killed, but on the second resurrection he loses all spellcasting abilities.

8. Legion of the Dead

Opponent	LIFE POINTS	Strikes on	Damage bonus	Armour	Notes
Thing	20	6	+3	None	Fought in the very first section of the adventure proper
Creature (formerly disguised as Beautiful Young Woman)	25	6	None, but has a poisonous bite which will double the damage it scores if it rolls an 11 o 12	None	None
Giant Rock Dwarf (or Dwarven Rock Giant)	30	5 usually, 8 every third combat round	+2	-2	None
Chasm Kraken (“a sort of giant land octopus”)	25	6	None, but will drag you over the edge to your death on a roll of 11 or 12	None	None
Shapes (2d6, minus 2, divide by 2 then round up to the nearest whole number – i.e. between 0 and 5)	10	6	None, but will kill you outright on a roll of 11 or 12	None	None
Drawing of a Dragon	25	6	+3	None	None
Wolves (2d6)	20	6	+2	None	None
Wildcat	20	6	+1	None	Fought in a confined space, so you have to use your bare hands
MacHoot	35	5	None	None	This “combat” is actually a way of playing out a wrestling match; you fight with your bare hands, but “combat” ends when one side is reduced to 10 or fewer LIFE POINTS
Skeletal Guards (2)	30	6	+2	None	None
Knar the Giant	50	5	+4	None	E.J. chickens out of this fight (or has a little rest, as he puts it), leaving you to fight the giant with your bare hands
The Loch Ness Monster	50	4	+3	None	You automatically get first strike
Fat Animated Jade Cannibal Statue of a Vampire	30	5	+1	None	If the FAJCSOFAV hits you three times in a row, you will lose 2 LIFE POINTS for every new section visited after the combat until you die
Ghosts (2d6)	10	11	They can’t actually harm you normally; as the text puts it, they will “frighten you badly, but do no actual damage, on a roll of 6 or better”. If they roll an 11 or 12 they pluck out your heart.
Strangler Vine	25	6	Deal 5 LIFE POINTS of damage on a successful hit regardless of what the dice say, and kill you outright on a roll of 12	None	None apart from all that stuff two columns to the left
Crawling Creeper	20	6	None	None	The text says the Creeper cannot actually kill you but doesn’t specify what to do if the combat ends in your death. The Creeper can, however, weaken you so you only score half damage for x number of fights afterwards where x = the number of combat rounds it took you to kill the Creeper
Smith the Smith	45	6	None	None	This is a test of strength, not an actual combat, so PSEUDO LIFE POINTS are used and you don’t lose any real LIFE POINTS; however, you can’t use weapons
Guards (2)	20	5	+3	-2	Combat ends when the guards reduce your LIFE POINTS to half of what they were when this fight started, or you halve both the guards’ LIFE POINTS
Nerd	25	5	None	None	His spats will temporarily blind you on a roll of 7, causing you to miss with your next three strikes
Orangutiger	30	4	+3	None, but is so hard to hit because of its massive speed that any opponent needs to roll 1 more than they normally would to hit it	Can be tamed if you choose not to attack it immediately; it will not fight to your orders, but you should roll 2d6 at the start of every combat. A roll of 10 or better indicates the Orangutiger will join in the fight
Widow Wobbly	25	4	+2	None	Only fought if you provoke her; she automatically gets first strike for 8 LIFE POINTS of damage
Vampire Vicar	20	6	None	None	Has first strike by way of surprise. Will kill you outright if he hits you three times in succession, not counting the first strike
Vampires (1d6 divided by 2, and rounded up to the nearest whole number)	25	6	None	None	Any Vampire rolling a 12 will kill you outright instantly
Haggis	40	5	+6	None	You get two attacks to its one, but it will kill you outright (by rolling over you) on a throw of 12
Miner	Inadvertently not given	9	Scores triple the damage shown by the dice	None	On any successful hit with his giant leek, you will be unable to cast spells for the next two combat rounds
Watchman	25	6	+2	None	None

For whatever reason, unlike all the other books Legion lacks a "boss battle" of any kind; there's not even anything that would qualify as an Optional Boss or any of its subtropes. Hey ho.

There are two NPCs you can't fight, but will fight on your behalf: an animated skeleton you can rescue from the ghosts, who has 30 LIFE POINTS, hits on 5 or better and does +2 damage; and a baby dragon who mistakes you for its mother, who is only good for the next seven fights you get into and strikes on 6 with no bonuses, but has 7,000 LIFE POINTS.

Appendix: Dreamtime

One of the many innovations Brennan came up with for the GrailQuest was Sleeping: a risky way of restoring LIFE POINTS. At any time you are not in combat, you can Sleep by rolling one die. Roll 5 or 6 and you can safely restore a further 2d6 of LIFE POINTS. Roll 1-4, however, and you had to turn to the Dreamtime sections: eleven random dream scenarios numbered 2-12, one of which you had to face up to by rolling the dice again. You could take nothing into the Dreamtime from reality with you, but if you were killed in the Dreamtime you were really killed and could only return to your adventure via the dreaded 14. Some of the dreams restored your LIFE POINTS, some of them gave you items, some of them came down to luck and, yes, in some of them you had to fight.

The Den of Dragons reuses the Dreamtime scenarios from The Castle of Darkness; Voyage of Terror and Kingdom of Horror both reuse the scenarios from Gateway of Doom; the last three books all have a unique set of dreams. (How many unique rules that book had seems to have a bearing on whether or not Brennan wrote a new set of Dreamtime encounters for it.)

Opponent	LIFE POINTS	Strikes on	Damage bonus	Armour	Notes
Brain Teaser (CoD)	15	6	Causes 5 LIFE POINTS of damage per round regardless of what the dice say	None	None
The Black Knight (CoD)	25	6	+10	-6	You are wearing -5 armour but have a +12 lance; King Arthur rolls two dice to decide who gets the first blow (lower than 7 and the Knight goes first)
Ogre (CoD)	40	6	+15	None	You are armed with a bow and seven arrows, each of which causes 10 LIFE POINTS of damage and requires a roll of 6 or better to hit; you have time to fire all seven arrows and make one last attack with your bare hands before the Ogre reaches you
Ragged Rogue (GoD)	12	6	+1	None	You must dispatch the Rogue (with your bare hands) in three strikes or the Ferryman will have departed the island; in your desperation, you get first strike
Very Large Man (GoD)	25	6	+3	None	This combat comes about because you get very drunk and pick a fight with the man; you are armed with E.J., but can only get in one strike for every two of your opponent’s and he gets first strike to boot
Gnurlbash Monster (GoD)	30	6	+2	None	Roll two dice: score 2-6 and the Gnurlbash Monster will attack you. Score 7-10 and it will wander off, leaving you unharmed. Score 11-12 and the monster will accompany out of the Dreamtime and fight on your behalf in any one combat of your choosing
Shark (GoD)	20	6	+4	None	This dream takes place in a giant bowl of sago, requiring you to roll one die. Score 4 or below and the fin you see is only a floating cornflake; score 5 or 6 and it’s a floating cornflake with the Shark underneath
Lizard Men (1d6) (RoC)	10	6	+2	None	Any Lizard Men you kill can be taken out of the Dreamtime to fight on your behalf
Warthog (RoC)	22	5	+3	None	Chewing the Warthog’s ear is the only cure to a poison that slowly drains your LIFE POINTS picked up in another Dreamtime encounter
Rubic Cube (ToN)	25	5	+2	None	None
Ninjas (1d6) (LoTD)	15	4	+3	None	A roll of 4 or better on one die means the Ninjas break their necks and you never have to fight them; you may restore 5 LIFE POINTS for every Ninja killed