Lair of the Lich

Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest #27

by Bruce Algozin

You must recover your father's stolen spell book from a lich which has taken up residence in Castle Necropolis, an evil place near your home.

Genres: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Fiction, Gamebooks

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1985

Reviews

[Fonch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dedicated with affection to Turbiales, Khanach, Ariotska, and Dark Falcon.
Ladies and gentlemen, the reading of this book was due to the reason that I decided to follow a custom that some Anglo-Saxon politicians usually perform. That is, when the cabinet goes into crisis. The affected politician decides to go on vacation to reflect, and I did something very similar. The discussion of"Eifelheim" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... was being a bit harsh because of my fanatical zeal to defend the book. Which caused serious upsets. So, I took two days to relax, to reflect, and see how to channel the disaster, which I myself had caused. On You Tube I saw a Role-Playing Game of Pathfinder https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... of my friend the blogger Turbiales (currently Turbiales is playing the video game Pathfinder Warth of the Righteous) in which he shows his games to computer games, and talks about role-playing, although sometimes he shows games as the case shows. I had a great time as a child. I had reserved this second-hand book in Maxtor, but the discomfort, which produced me the aforementioned event led me to acquire this game book, another called "The Tower of Darkness" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... and normal books by William Somerset Maugham https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , I also bought the prequel to Sigrid Undset's "The Burning Bush" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., and book summaries (Papini's had it repeated https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...). I also wanted to advance the Goodreads challenge with two easy reads. I saw my friend Turbiales, and like my friend Nobita (one of the characters in Doraemon https://www.goodreads.com/series/8199...) I want to do the same as the others. So I started reading them tonight, and they were as effective an antidepressant as it could have been to read some account by G.K. Chesterton, which you know, that when I'm down, or depressed, or dejected by something I read it. The day before writing this review, as a talk by a friend of Turbiales named Ezkerdan Turbiales had been canceled, he resumed the gamebooks (although a few days I told him that I had acquired "The Lair of the Lich",and "The Tower of Darkness"). I don't know if this had anything to do with it. I don't think so.) Yesterday I had a great time watching the session of the book-game “the curse of the werewolf” by Chris Martindalehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... He told us, where you could download those books, and it was hilarious, since it was enlivened by the comments of my friend Khanach, Ariotska, and Dark Falcon, and mixed with the impressions of Turbiales they were as entertaining as a comedy of golden Hollywood, especially when it came to Hodson I could not stop laughing. It must be borne in mind that we are all Spaniards, and it is the difference between the encounter between an American, and a European. I laugh a lot from my house about the political correctness of the current times.
I did not lag behind my friend I also had a great time on October 7 (a few hours before Spain had defeated Italy in European football in the Nations Cup). In fact the choice of"The Lair of the Lich" I don't know if in the game book books he talked about this particular book. I had already played this. I had read several books. I think of parallel worlds, or Nightmares books, but except a few years ago I read the"Mountain of Mirrors" which was poorly done. You could do things, which you had already done. The night before I had already read"The Tower of Darkness",which improved the"mountain of mirrors", which was fine, but I didn't like it as much as this one..
This book"The Lair of the Lich" has an interesting beginning that I like the protagonist (that is, you if you read the book. During my review I will compare my review with that of"The Tower of Darkness" since I do not think, that I write a review of"The Tower of Darkness" for lack of time, and because there are more interesting reviews of other books, than to write among them"Demetrius" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... or that of"Beyond this place" by A.J. Cronin, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... that runs the risk of ending up like Veyento's book, which Petronius promises to read to Marco Vinicio in"Quo Vadis" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... and in the end they are left without reading it). The main character of this book is an apprentice magician, son of a great wizard, just like Garan's partner in the Dark Tower (I'm referring to Derek, and his father). It is true that the name of the protagonist of"The Lair of the Wandering Corpse" (on this subject I want to point out one thing, which I like more the original title in English, because it already reveals what we are going to face. To one of the most dangerous creatures in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. At least in its second edition we refer to the Lich. In the third edition, they already go down a lot) does not hit a magician much (his name is Eric), and has had a premonitory dream. Eric is a person with great latent power, who is willing to come out into the light. Here that potential is called psionic power, but it already gives us an idea of the enormous power, which the protagonist possesses, who has had a warning of what was going to happen, since he dreamed that his father had been injured by a lich, and that he had been robbed of a book of great power. Apart from those you have the bitter feeling that something disastrous is going to happen, or omens of ruin, and death. I must point out something, although interesting the beginning is very misleading. If you are intelligent, and you have common sense, it is very easy to leave the adventure unscathed (perhaps it is one of the defects of the book). For example there are more chances of dying in"The Tower of Darkness" at the hands of Verbena, and its leader the evil Count Velasco (ask what I do, how dare the author to dishonor such a noble, and glorious surname of so much tradition, of people who descend from the mountains of Cantabria. I think this book lost a star for this reason ;-) *it was a joke, although I like that last name*) that here. In fact, this is a good thing there are more endings in this book, than in the Dark Tower in which there is only one good ending, although there are two ways to get to it. However, a priori it seemed more difficult to escape this challenge, than that of "The Tower of darkness",but we will talk about it later. Going back to the beginning, perhaps the beginning is the most interesting. Not only for the charm of its main character Eric, but for the mission, and the advice your father gives you. Dungeons and Dragons was unjustly accused of promoting paganism, and stanism in the wake of a boy's suicide. This led Dungeons and Dragons to be very careful in this matter, and show great zeal against any fascination with demons. Thus, this book is more effective than any catechetical course (especially those after Vatican II), alerting us to how dangerous it is to achieve immortality, or great power thanks to demons, and in exchange for your soul. In fact, the liche became Liche by such a pact. This is denigrated, and condemned by the Father of the Protagonist, and his denunciations are as effective as the accounts of nineteenth-century German romanticism Faust, Peter Sliemihl https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..., the lost reflection of E.T.A. Hoffmann https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... or the story of Rumpelstiltskin https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6..., even if you put it on you can think of one of Oscar Wilde's most beautiful tales"The fisherman, and his shadow" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... from_search=true&qid=pfD43Gtgc4&rank=1 because through those moral stories it was about explaining to us how bad that is. Recently in the eponymous episode of the Devil's Card (not to be confused with another masterful episode The Devil's Passport) the devil was given a Germanic touch. Anyway, he took great advantage of this accusation, and it served to give a touch of morality to Dungeons and Dragons. Hence Eric's moralizing tirade. Apart from that, it entrusts you to look for the book, it tells you about your psionic powers (we will call it that so as not to confuse them with the normal spells that there are also). However, and here is the most interesting thing your father advises you to wake up your servant Pnimm, who is a small creature almost a medium, artificially created by magical means, which seems to be a very temperamental creature, and has another flaw, and that is that he is very afraid of the undead, so indirectly you are forced to tell him an unofficial lie, and not to tell him the truth until you reach the abode of the wandering Cadaver. This book unlike"The Tower of darkness" has more creatures of the dungeons and Dragons bestiary skeletons, the mythical owl bear, shadows, witches, the devourer of intellects (one of the most interesting creatures of Dungeons and Dragons shaped like a brain), demon scavenger spirits, the lich itself. Another advantage it has is the buddy story Pnimm is the most interesting character in the book. You will find out, that he is more than just the typical grumpy, and that a very good, and loyal person, who is able to do anything for you, and forgive you the most reprehensible behaviors, although it all depends on the decisions you make. There is the good thing, that depending on what you do you can end up one way, or another. I liked Pnimm infinitely more than Garan's friend Derek in"The Dark Tower" proves to be much better friend, more useful, and more loyal. This book without this character would have lost a lot. As already said, although it is not a magical world like "The Dark Tower of Darkness" it offers more outputs, and more possibilities than"The Tower". As there are fewer names are less ridiculous, than those of"The Tower of darkness". On the contrary, and this is a very fat defect, which is very short, sometimes you can solve the quest too soon. I spent this game in a very short time, and the rest of the time I was looking, and seeing the other options. Another flaw I see is that once you've done it it loses its grace, and you'll have to wait several years, to do it again, and remember how it was the first time you played it. It is also a failure, that there is no limit when it comes to using the psionic power of the protagonist in an unlimited way, although it is true that he gets tired, and needs some time to recover. It must have been considered by the author that making an abusive use of the secret power of the protagonist entailed a disadvantage, or led to disaster. Sometimes he's a bit deterministic sometimes he won't have to do anything, and they do it all for him. All in all there is a greater freedom than in the Dark Tower where if you are a good boy, you follow the instructions, you do not make foolish decisions, and you do not try to shy away from the adventure you can rescue Derek, your mother, and Derek's father. Here there are several endings that can be successful, a partial success, a Pyrrhic ending, or end up dying. In some cases, and this is the interesting thing about this adventure, you will have to face a moral dilemma. Something, which did not happen so much in"The Tower of Darkness". Of course the interaction with Pennim makes the book more fun, and you end up appreciating your little helper. Precisely the most important decision of the book has Pnimm as its protagonist, and it can show us what kind of person we really are. In fact, that option takes place on page 91 of the Spanish edition, and it's on the first page. It is a good hook to attract you to the book they put the most exciting, so that you get hooked, and want to read it. The moral dilemma makes it more interesting to read than"The Dark Tower" which has no moral dilemmas, and which only requires common sense, and not wanting to shy away from adventure. In both game books I died once, although in"The Dark Tower" I got the pages wrong, and I went where I didn't want to go. On the other hand, in"The Lair of the Lich" if I made the wrong decision. I think, I got to the second end of the game to the first. A piece of advice I give to the Goodreads user, who reads this book is that apart from getting the book try to neutralize the liche, so that it does not pose a threat in the future, because it will not always be worth bringing the book. In fact, there is an ending in which your father certainly expected more from you. Of course there is an ending that I really liked, and that for me is the perfect ending to this book.
At first I was going to put three stars, but I liked this book so much, that despite its flaws I am going to put four stars, which I had in the beginning. After all, it lit me up in a dark moment, and left me wanting to read more game books. I hope the same thing happens to you as to my user.

[GabyUfita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recuerdo que de niña me emocionaba y me daba miedo tomar una elección mala y que la historia me encantó; ahora, años después, volví a disfrutar recordando.
La historia es de las más "maduras" y tiene una buena estructura.
Los poderes de Eric son muy interesantes, tienes oportunidad de experimentar con sus habilidades, además Pnimm le da frescura y humor :)

[Jsrott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. It's good from an adventure POV, but too many of the story lines led back to the same endings. The addition of the "psionics" was never something I particularly favored when D&D introduced them, and having the hero have them felt somewhat like a plug for the system. But hey, that's what the books really were anyway, so just a small bug.

[Toni Serrano Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta entrega contiene varias peculiaridades que lo hacen fascinante. Una de ellas es el ambiente tétrico que rodea al misterioso cadáver errante y a todo lo que conlleva a él (el mismísimo maligno en persona), lo que lo convierte, quizá, en el libro más adulto de la saga. Recuerdo que ciertos pasajes del libro me causaron pavor de joven y releyendolo de adulto me he dado cuenta de que, si no es tan pavoroso, si que estaban muy bien ambientadas en lo tétrico como para haberme causado tal sensación a tan temprana edad.
Mención especial a los protagonistas, que también gozan de buena originalidad. El primero, nuestro personaje, el cual goza de unos poderes inéditos en la saga, los psiónicos, o lo que es lo mismo, transformar partes de su cuerpo en objetos o armas y otro tipo de poderes mentales que darán mucho juego al libro. El segundo , Pnimm, nuestro pequeño acompañante que, pese a ser un poco el alivio cómico del libro, derrocha originalidad al tratarse de un ser creado por la magia.
Una buena historia, con gran diversidad de personajes y criaturas, aunque un tanto lineal en lo respectivo a sus finales principales.
Una gran experiencia para el lector adulto, sin duda alguna y una algo terrorífica para los más jóvenes.

[Javi Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

El primer libro que recuerdo haber leído, fuera del ámbito de los cuentos. Hoy en día quizá le hubiera dado otra puntuación, pero lo justo es puntuarlo como lo hubiera hecho en la época. Aquellos libros de "Aventura sin fin" fueron un estupendo primer encuentro con la lectura.

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14093349