The Cauldron of Fear

[DeeBee]

Hi there,

I am posting in relation to section 128 of the “Cauldron of Fear” – the big showdown with Zakham Kimah by the possessor of the Sommerswerd. I believe that there might be an error here than penalises the possession of the Sommerswerd and think it needs correcting.

If you lack the Sommerswerd and use the Dagger of Vashna in hand to hand with Zakham Kimah, he has Combat Skill 34 and Endurance 40 (section 10), alternatively you have a chance of killing him outright if you throw the dagger at him (section 239).

If you are using the Sommerswerd in hand to hand with Zakham Kimah, he has Combat Skill 44 and Endurance 50 (section 128).

If you have the Psychic Ring, he has Combat Skill 34 and Endurance 40 (section 188).

What do other people think? Is section 128 a simple misprint that needs correcting (ie. Kimah’s stats changed to CS 34 and END 40)? Anyone aware of what the original intent was?

Apologies in advance if this has been discussed previously!

[Darkash]

DeeBee said:

Apologies in advance if this has been discussed previously!

Has this been discussed? Hoo boy, has this been discussed! (BTW, I don't think i've seen you before, so if you are new to the boards, welcome.) Basically speaking, this is here to balance things. Joe put this here because if you've been playing since book 2, there are several things, such as the Silver Helmet and Shield (both +2CS) , that you had access to. These, plus the +8 bonus that the Sommerswerd itself provides, mean that the 34 CS Kimah would be a pushover. The 44 CS Kimah is upgraded to give you a challenging fight. (of course, I think Joe might have gone a little overboard on the challenge.)
In other words, to answer your question, no, this is not a misprint. It's simply a way to anknowledge the fact that you have been playing for long enough to gain some good bonuses. In fact, this trick is used several times later on in books 13-20 for the same reason.

[DeeBee]

Hey, thanks for that and for the warm welcome – I really needed to touch base with others to get their thoughts on this encounter as it shredded eight of my characters before I scraped it in.

I gotta agree that Kimah’s stats are overboard, but acknowledge there is a fine art in trying to set an encounter so that it is neither a cakewalk or a tear-your-hair-out-refuse-to-start-again character shredder.

[LWhistorian]

Just think of it as the gamebook equivalent of different difficulty levels in a computer or video game. In some games(Baldur's Gate 2 comes to mind), you can face several different sets of monters in a given fight depending on how strong you are.

But someone has already made that analogy before but I too am relatively new here so anyway.

[Zipp]

Yes, similar things happen with the Chaos Master and other similar baddies. I am in agreement that Joe went a bit overboard. I'm not sure he beat these guys with the double 0 stat rolls.