Caverns of the Snow Witch

Infobox Fighting Fantasy book 2covers


caption1=The original cover of "Caverns of the Snow Witch" illustrated by Les Edwards


caption2=The Wizard cover of "Caverns of the Snow Witch" illustrated by Les Edwards
location=Icefinger Mountains, Allansia, Titan
references=400
authors=Ian Livingstone
illustrator=Gary Ward &
Edward Crosby
coverillustrator=Les Edwards
year=1984
number=9
ISBN=ISBN 0-14-031830-5
wcoverillustrator=Les Edwards
wyear=2003
wnumber=10
wISBN=ISBN 1-84046-432-1

"Caverns of the Snow Witch" single-player roleplaying gamebook, written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Gary Ward and Edward Crosby and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 9th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031830-5) and 10th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-432-1).

Creation

A short version of the adventure was first published in in two parts, originally as separate adventures. Livingstone later combined both parts and expanded the adventure to create the final book.

tory

The book is split into three distinct parts. In the first part, the reader is hired to kill a yeti that has been disrupting trade routes in the Icefinger Mountains of Allansia. After killing the yeti, the player finds a dying trapper who tells him of the great riches to be found in the caverns of the Snow Witch, an evil sorceress who dwells in the mountains. The player sets off to investigate the caverns, meeting up with two other adventurers along the way: Redswift the Elf and Stubb the Dwarf. The three companions infiltrate the caverns, fight their way through guards and monsters, and kill the Snow Witch, who is actually a vampire.

In the second part, the three of them must escape the caverns while being pursued by the Snow Witch's minions. Along the way they encounter many traps, several guards and even the spirit of the late Snow Witch herself.

In the third part, the three escape from the caverns and return to civilised, temperate parts of Allansia, when it is revealed that both the reader and Redswift are succumbing to the effects of a Death Spell, activated by the reading of a parchment [par. 38] . (There is no indication that Stubb reads the parchment [par. 135] .) After Redswift perishes, the reader must seek out Pen Ty Kora, a reclusive healing wizard, to cure him of the spell, while his Stamina score gradually dwindles away. If the reader has certain items from the Snow Witch's cavern, and can pass a series of ordeals, he will be cured of the spell and successfully complete the gamebook.

Whilst "Caverns of the Snow Witch" was originally the ninth book in the series, it is the chronological prequel of "Forest of Doom", the third book. The quest for King Gillibran's warhammer, which is the basis of the plot of "Forest of Doom", begins in this book.

ee also

*Fighting Fantasy
*List of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

References

* cite web
title=Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11
* cite web
title=Caverns of the Snow Witch on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=46
* cite web
title=Caverns of the Snow Witch on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb9.htmOfficial sites:
* cite web
title=Caverns of the Snow Witch on the official Fighting Fantasy website
url=http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff10.htm
* cite web
title=Caverns of the Snow Witch on the Wizard Books website
url=http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-432-1