142 replies to this topic

[Showsni]

Well, I don't know how well this will work (if at all!) but I thought it was worth a shot. Here's how it goes. I'm going to play through Grailquest: Realm of Chaos. Whenever I come to a decision, I throw it open to the public (that is, you guys) to vote on. (I'll handle the battles.) Then I report back, with type ups and if you're lucky pictures. How does that sound? (In other words, a Let's Play.)

Anyway, Realm of Chaos is the sixth in the Grailquest series. If you've played the other ones you might have an advantage, but it does explain everything, so you probably won't get lost. As the title of the series suggests, we're talking Arthurian Legend. You play as yourself, called by Merlin via a magical spell to inhabit the body of young Pip. Here's the first bit! (Typos are most likely my own.)

Grailquest
Realm of Chaos

There is a curse on Camelot. Gold rusts and even sunshine rots around the edges. The wizard Merlin, stark naked but for long johns, boots and pointy hat, is confined to his new home in a barrel. King Arthur and his doughty knights are trapped in the rank dungeons of a fungoid excrudescence that was once the proud Castle Camelot. In the countryside, the earth lies barren. The Realm is in chaos. Only a hero of almost unimaginable courage, strength, intelligence, luck and sheer good looks can save the day.

In other words, YOU are sorely needed.

In this incredible (and slightly lunatic) new gamebook in the GrailQuest series, you carry your faithful talking sword EJ into a maelstrom of mystery as you attempt to discover who - or what - really lies behind the disaster which has fallen like an avalanche on Avalon. It is you, and only you, who can slay the monsters, solve the puzzles and hack your way beyond the very confines of the known universe to visit the fabled Astral Plane in search of a solution.

Realm of Chaos is the sixth book of the magical, heroic GrailQuest. Look out for the five already published to complete your collection. And look out for more books in the series soon.

I'll use quote boxes to indicate bits that are actually in the adventure, as opposed to my inane babblings. I guess I didn't really need to type up the blurb there. Oh well. If you really want to buy all the books, go ahead! You shan't regret it.

EMERGENCY

Hurry! There's not a moment to waste! Grab your pencil and eraser, some paper and dice and let me get my Net Spell on your head.

What do you mean - who's this? This is Merlin. The Wizard Merlin. There's no time for social chit-chat. There's an emergency on.

Somebody has put a curse on Camelot!

If you know the basic rules of GrailQuest adventuring - how to roll your LIFE POINTS, how to fight and so on, turn direct to 2. If this is your first time, turn to 1.

So, what say you? Are you all sufficiently versed with GrailQuest to head straight into 2? Or shall we hit up 1 first so I can explain how this is going to work?

Edited by Showsni, 01 August 2012 - 04:05 PM.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

I don't know why, but I keep misreading the title as Communist Play.

[Sir Deimos]

I've never heard of this. Explain please. XD

[Veteran]

I am uninitiated and require exposition.

[Showsni]

Aw, I was hoping you'd turn to 2. Page 1 is the longest in the book.

In case you're completely lost, I guess I'll explain that this is one of those CYOA type books. Well, more like a Fighting Fantasy one - you know, with battles and stuff. A mini RPG in a book!

1

Just my luck. Not a minute to waste and we have to spend time on the rules. Never mind.

What's going to happen is this: I'm going to cast a Net Spell over your head. It transports the contents and puts them into the head of a young hero in my time. A young hero called Pip, to be exact.

Once you're inside Pip's head, you can do things in my time. Like having adventures and slaying dragons and getting yourself killed.

Life Points
Which brings me to the LIFE POINTS. To function at all in my time, you need LIFE POINTS. To get LIFE POINTS, you roll two dice, then multiply the result by four. The answer is your starting LIFE POINTS. If you don't think you've rolled enough LIFE POINTS (and you're going to need all you can get on this adventure) try again. In fact you can try three times altogether and pick the best result.

If you've been GrailQuesting before , you may have a few Permanent Life Points to add on: you can take up to 10 of them from a previous adventure.

Combat
Now you've got your LIFE POINTS, I'll tell you about Combat. You'll probably have a lot of combat to get through in this adventure. And you'll fight by using dice.

When you find yourself in a fight with an enemy, the first thing you do is roll two dice for yourself and two for your enemy. Highest roll gets to strike first.

To strike a blow in combat, you will generally have to roll a 6 or better on two dice. But if you're using your magical sword, Excalibur Junior (EJ for short) you need only roll a 4 or better.

Anything you roll above the figure you need to hit counts as damage against your enemy and is subtracted from his LIFE POINTS. Anything your enemy rolls above the figure he needs to hit counts as damage agsint you and is subtracted from your LIFE POINTS.

If you're using weapons, which you will be most of the time, you (or your enemy) score additional damage. EJ gives you 5 additional points of damage on every successful hit, for instance.

If you're using armour (and you will be since I've found your old Dragonskin Jacket in a suitcase underneath the bed), the armour deducts from any damage scored against you: and the same goes for your opponent, of course.

This business of adding and deducting damage is important. Because if your LIFE POINTS drop to 5 or less, you fall unconscious. and if they drop to zero or below, you are dead.

Friendly Reaction
Obviously you'll want to avoid some fights. It isn't easy, but it's sometimes possible with a Friendly Reaction. To check for a Friendly Reaction, roll one die once for your opponent and three times for yourself. If you manage to score less on your three rolls than your opponent did on one, you've got a Friendly Reaction and can proceed as if you'd won the fight.

Bribery
The other way to avoid fights is Bribery, but that's only possible in sections marked like this: *B. The number of stars before the 'B' lets you know how much you have to offer as a bribe. *B = 100 gold pieces; **B = 500 gold pieces; ***B = 1,000 gold pieces and ****B = 10,000 gold pieces.

Of course, offering a Bribe is no guarantee it will be accepted. You need to roll two dice to determine that. Score 7 or below and your Bribe is refused. Score 8 or more and it's accepted and you can proceed as if you'd won the fight. Either way you lose the money you offered.

Healing
If you can't avoid a fight and aren't killed, the chances are you'll need to restore lost LIFE POINTS. You can do this with a Healing Potion, which has six doses and each dose restores a double dice roll of LIFE POINTS. Or you can use a jar of salve. Each jar has five applications and each application gives you back three LIFE POINTS. If you run out of Healing Potions and Salves (and I don't have that many to spare as you'll see in 2) you'll just have to risk SLEEPING to restore LIFE POINTS.

Sleep
You can SLEEP any time during an adventure except when you're actually in combat. To SLEEP you roll one die. If you score a 5 or a 6, you can restore LIFE POINTS equal to rolling two dice. If you score anything else, you have to turn to the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime is bad news usually, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Experience
Incidentally, you can't restore LIFE POINTS to give you more than you started out with. In fact the only way you can add to your starting total is through EXPERIENCE. You gain one EXPERIENCE POINT for every battle won or puzzle solved. Twenty EXPERIENCE POINTS can be traded in for one PERMANENT LIFE POINT, which is then added to your total.

In this adventure you don't have to remember anything about magic beause I can't seem to get it to work. That's part of the curse put on Camelot.
Now go to 2.

All quite straightforward, right? I'm DMing (as it were), so I'll handle the outcomes of the rolls and whatnot. Since this is our first time, we don't have any Permanent Life Points to add on, so I guess I'll roll our starting total!

Frist roll: 2 and 3
Second roll: 6 and 4
Third roll: 5 and 6

Nice rolling! We've got the second highest starting life total, 44.

Our character sheet thus far:

PIP's LIFE POINTS 44 Starting: 44

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0

EQUIPMENT

EJ: hits on roll of 4+, causes 5 extra damage
Dragonskin jacket: Deducts 4 from daamge done to you

Healing Potions: None
Gold Pieces: None

There's no real point putting a poll here. We have to turn to page 2 now. I'll out it in a seperate post, though. And possibly tomorrow.

[Showsni]

If we're lucky, someone will come along and stop this from being a double post. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

2

"Avert your eyes - I've no clothes on!"

You avert your eyes, but not so quickly that you fail to see the tall, skinny white-bearded figure stark naked except for boots, long johns, a long-sleeved woolly vest and a pointed hat with stars embroidered all over it. Having averted your eyes, you find yourself staring at a rough wooden floor which seems to be slightly concave.

You glance around furtively, taking care not to embarrass the Wizard Merlin by looking at him directly. You are in the oddest room ?, chamber ?, house ? you have ever seen. It is quite vast, but made entirely of wood with curving walls, ceiling and floor, as if you were in a gigantic...

"Barrel," says Merlin. "It's my new home. I got the idea from an old Greek who used to live in one. But mine's bigger: it has to be to hold all my things. I had it specially made by the Court Cooper when there was a Court Cooper." He hesitates sadly and adds, "And when there was a court, come to that. Lucky I did. Something in the shape protected me from the Curse. But you don't know about the Curse yet, do you?"

"No, sir," you say politely, your head reeling a little. Now that you can tear your eyes away from the insides of this gigantic barrel, you realize you are wearing a new and different body, a sturdy handsome carcass dressed in breeches, leggings and tunic, with a neat broadsword belted around your waist.

"Pip's body," says Merlin, who can obviously read minds. "If you haven't occupied it before, you'll soon get used to it. But I'd better tell you about the Curse. Or rather show you. In which case, I'd better get you kitted out."

"Kitted out?" you ask, wondering why he is wandering around in his underwear.

"Because the Curse rotted my robe," Merlin snaps.

"I thought you said the barrel protected you from it," you protest.

"Only when I'm inside. THe robe was hanging on the line to dry. Fortunately I still have my hat or I wouldn;t have been able to cast the Net Spell to bring you here. But we won't worry about that. There's no time to lose. Have a look at this inventory." With that he hands you a scroll on which has been scrawled the following items:

Axe
Ant Farm
Boots
Cobweb spray
Fishing rod
Glitter powder
Hammer
Handkerchief
Knife
Mallet
Rope (50' coil)
Rations (1 week's supply)
Razor
Salt (1lb pack)
Saw
Slide Trombone
Spikes
Stake (wooden, suitable for Vampires)
Talking Head (brass)
Toothbrush
Twine (200' ball)

"Now the thing is," says Merlin, "you'll only be able to take six. Anything over that rots."

"But you haven;t told me what's going on!" you protest. "How can I decide what to take when I don't know what to expect?"

"It doesn't matter," says Merlin. "The situation is so desperate anything could come in handy. Or there again, anything might be useless. You just take what you fancy, up to six items."

And having made your decision on the basis of E.S.P., you can troll off to 10 for the next bit of nonsense.

Okay, you heard the wizard! We need to decide on six items to take with us. I notice also that he didn't give us any potions or salves, whereas 1 seems to imply we should have some... So I'll just assume we have one of each.

Rather than use a poll at the top for this, each person will have to psot with the six items they want to take. Then I'll add up all the results and we'll take the most popular ones.

There's a picture that goes with this listing, but since my camera is low on battery, I'll save it for next time.

[Sir Deimos]

Axe. Boots. Rope. Rations. Handkerchief. Fishing rod.

[canas is back]

Axe, hammer, boots, fishing rod, knife, rope

[Showsni]

Wow, you people like the sensible options... No Ant Farms?

Here's that picture (pretty poor quality... My 3DS camera, with a shaky hold. Sorry!)

 merlin.png   388.08K   7 downloads

Come on, no one else wants to play? I promise there are no more boring rule pages! All you have to do currrently is decide the six items to bring!

[canas is back]

I would have picked the trombone, but that seems like a lot of weight for what MIGHT be useful

[frogmonkeys]

Axe, boots, fishing rod, knife, rope, and rations.

[Showsni]

So, currently we have:

Axe - 3
Ant Farm
Boots - 3
Cobweb spray
Fishing rod - 3
Glitter powder
Hammer - 1
Handkerchief - 1
Knife - 2
Mallet
Rope (50' coil) - 3
Rations (1 week's supply) - 2
Razor
Salt (1lb pack)
Saw
Slide Trombone
Spikes
Stake (wooden, suitable for Vampires)
Talking Head (brass)
Toothbrush
Twine (200' ball)

I'll leave it open for a little longer, in case anyone else wants to vote.

[Showsni]

Guess not.

Okay, here's some backstory coming at you... Bit wordy (it's one of those run on things with no choices!) but don't worry, it picks up after that.

10

"Now pass me a blanket from the bed," Merlin instructs you.

You pass him the blanket without comment and he wraps it around his bony frame in the manner of a badly tailored Roman toga. "Now," he says, "follow me."

You follow him out of a door in the side of the barrel. At once you realize something is dreadfully wrong.

The barrel, you now see, is set at the bottom of Cadbury Hill on the edge of the sweeping grainfields which march across the landscape to Glastonbury Village. But though the sun is shining and harvest time must be near, the sweeping grainfields are bare: parched earth cracking in great slabs of crazy paving with not a plant in sight. And beyond them, Glastonbury lies enshrouded in a dense grey fog, squatting like a sullen toad over the entire village but extending not a single inch beyond.

And as if this was not bad enough, as your eyes move upwards over Cadbury Hill to the proud Castle Camelot which crowns the peak, you see King Arthur's brave Keep has been transformed into a looming fungoid mass, barely recognizable as the seat of the glittering Court.

You swing round to Merlin with mounting alarm. "What's happened here?" you gasp.

He shakes his head. "It's the Curse I tell you - the Curse on Camelot!"

"Yes, yes," you say impatiently, "but who laid the Curse and what has it done and why didn't somebody stop it and what can be done about it and who - "

He holds up a skinny hand. "Patience. Everybody's been asking me the same thing and I don't have all the answers. But if you zip across to 22, I'll tell you everything I know."

So what are you waiting for?

22

THE CURSE

It came about in this fashion.

For many months since the return of Excalibur, peace and plenty returned to the Realm of Avalon. It was one of those golden times when trade booms, corn grows high, brigands, robbers, bandits and burglars all fade into semi-retirement and it only rains at night, after midnight. Even dragons were few and far between (the result of a dry August the year before, according to the Old Residenters, of whom one coined an expression "We've never had it so good" which became something of a catch-phrase).

The brave Knights of the Table Round, with few dragons to slay and almost no wrongs to right, spent much of their time jousting, to the intense enjoyment of the peasantry who had free tickets to these events and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle of aristocrats falling off horses and breaking the odd arm or rib.

King Arthur, relieved of the onerous burden of State problems, had more free time too and spent it fishing. Only the Wizard Merlin and the Court Cooper, a squat little man named Harold, were at all busy - and that only because the Welsh Wizard's fearsome eccentricity had occasionaed him to commission the creation of a gigantic barrel in which he proposed to live like Socrates. (Or was it Plato?)

What exactly happened to change this idyllic situation remains a shade obscure. There was much speculation after the event, of course. Midwife Hardacre of Glastonbru had a story of a Piper commissioned by the Village Council to rid the Town Hall of black beetles and never paid. Farmer Albert, a man as famed for his flights of fancy as for the turf he smoked in his clay pipe, maintained the fault lay with his arch enemy, the Blacksmith Abraham who was so drunk one night that he stumbled into a Holy Well, thus committing an unconscious act of desecration. Petronicus Ambilicus, the old Roman Alchemist who still plied his trade in Glastonbury, reckoned it was a seasonal thing, connected in some mysterious way with the position of the Planet Mercury.

More serious theories, put forward by the Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested the disturbance of a Great Wyrm in Cornwall or possibly the activity of witches in Wales.

But the simple fact was that no-one really knew. Everyone went to sleep one evening (before midnight to avoid the rain) in a Realm that was all green and golden and sunny and peaceful, and woke up the following morning to a nightmare of blight, pestilence, gloom and corruption.

The first thing they noticed was that the dawn sun had taken on a greenish tinge. And while that died down a little over the morning, there was still the smog that had fallen over Glastonbury, the pollution in the water supply, the total disappearance of every Knight in Avalon, the fungus attack on Camelot Castle, the death of all grain crops, the sickening of pigs and cattle, the drying of the soil, the potholes and molehills which erupted like boils along all main roads, the way gold started to rust and linen to rot and the mildew that appeared nearly everywhere.

It was, said the Old Residenters wisely, a Curse. And for once, nobody disagreed with them. The problem, of course, was what to do about it.

The first deputation went to Camelot, but quickly found it impossible to enter the Castle, let alone communicate with King Arthur or the members of his Court.

The second deputation went to Merlin's barrel, but was denied entrance on the grounds that the Wizard had nothing to wear. It was an excuse that the members of the deputation appreciated since they too had lost much of their clothing.

After that, the people settled down to suffering, as people usually do in the face of mysterious adversity. Except for Merlin himself, of course, who did what he always did when there was too much trouble abroad for normal human beings to handle. Merlin cast a Net Spell to capture the greatest hero in the known universe, a young person with sufficient skill, courage, talent, common sense, good looks and self-confidence to animate the body of Pip.

Those who knew about the spell were greatly relieved. The situation needed a hero - particularly one stuoid enough to risk his life and limb to sort things out.

Now read on at 50.

50

"So here you are," said Merlin. "All shipshape and Bristol fashion. Keen and enthusiastic." He glances up at the sky briefly. "Looks like rain, but it won't. It never rains now when you want it to: only when you don't and it doesn't do any good. Never mind - you'll soon sort it out."

"But I don't know who laid the Curse!" you wail.

"Neither do I," admits Merlin frankly. "Shortly after the whole thing happened a thunderstone fell in Glastonbury Village Square with an inscription on it which read: Revenge is Sweet - signed Kran the Terrible. There was a lot of excitement when that happened. People started talking about the Curse of Kran."

"But then all we have to do is find this Kran," you exclaim.

"What do you mean - we?" Merlin asks testily. But before you can answer, he adds, "You'll find it's not as simple as all that. Whoever laid the Curse would have to be a wizard, sorceror or witch, and they're all registered, you know. Union rules. You can't practise magic unless you're registered."

"Then," you interrupt, "we just have to look at the records."

"I've done all that!" snaps Merlin. "There's no such person as Kran. At least, there's no such name registered anyway. It's my belief that Kran is a nom de guerre. So to find Kran, you're going to have to find out who Kran really is. Then you're going to have to kill him. Or her." He pauses thoughtfully. "Or it," he adds.

"Where do I start?"

"That's up to you," says Merlin. "It's your adventure. I can't possibly come with you, since I'd risk being arrested for indecent exposure. But if I could come with you, I'd suggest you start with a visit to Glastonbury. Or a run at Castle Camelot. Those are the two places where the Curse lies thickest, so there might be some clues to pick up."

Which seems as good advice as any. You can troll up Cadbury Hill to the Castle at 17, or visit Glastonbury at 34.

Phew! Did you get all that? Well, it boils down to two choices - we can start searching for clues in Glastonbury Village or Camelot Castle. I'll try adding another poll question, but I'm not sure if it will allow people who already voted to vote again - if not, we'll have to have people post their choice in the thread. Well, that will add extra activity anyway, so no biggy.

Remember! At any time, we also have additional options - we can take a nap and try to recover lost health, or use a potion or salve to recover lost health. So really at any stage we also have those two options to consider.

Here's the current character sheet:

PIP's LIFE POINTS 44 Starting: 44

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0

EQUIPMENT

EJ: hits on roll of 4+, causes 5 extra damage
Dragonskin jacket: Deducts 4 from damage done to you
Axe
Boots
Fishing Rod
Knife
Rope (50' coil)
Rations (1 week's supply)

Healing Potions: 1 Potion, 1 Salve
Gold Pieces: None

tl;dr - Do you want to visit the Village (34) or the Castle (17)?

Edited by Showsni, 01 August 2012 - 04:03 PM.

[frogmonkeys]

Hm.. I say village. :/ I'm used to d&d so I would actually say let's go ask around at the local inn/pub for the latest town gossip... But... I don't think there is that choice here lol

[canas is back]

I vote for the village as well. keep on guard!

[Sir Deimos]

Definitely the village!

[Hypnotic13]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Castle.

[Showsni]

So three votes for the village versus two for the castle; looks like we're heading to Glastonbury!


Glastonbury Festival not actually due for hundreds of years yet

34

The road to Glastonbury, once such a pleasant journey, is now a disaster area, with the fog-enshrouded destination holding no great appeal either. You reach the outskirts of the village eventually and step reluctantly into the mist. It is not so thick as it seems from the outside, so you can see perfectly well where you are going, but it is damp and chill, making an adventurer's life (which was never a bowl of cherries to begin with) even more difficult.

But difficult or not, you should brace yourself to study the map of Glastonbury on page 202 which will indicate the areas you may explore.

Here is said map:



Again, apologies for the quality! You'll note that since this is a secondhand copy of the book, some helpful owner prior to me has crossed off a few of the places they've been. I'll elaborate below, and you can get to voting where we should start!

Assuming we're entering the village from the south west, we'll first pass building 7.
20 looks to be a duckpond south of the village square.
5 is a well in the village square;
said square is itself 30.
51 is a building within the square.
54 and 42 are two buildings on the north side of the square.
There's then a cross shaped building at 38 with a building 62 next door.
67 and 58 are down to the south, and 47 appears to be on the way out to the east.

All the other buildings are presumably too unimportant to deal with. So, pick a number and let's get exploring!

Attached Files

•  HNI_0085.JPG   51.66K   0 downloads

[Sir Deimos]

38. Cross shaped building means it may be a church or some such. Something religious may have some answers to an evil curse.

[frogmonkeys]

If it were my adventuring party we'd probably stop at 7 first since its the first we'd come to, then head to the square and hit up 51 because it looks like perhaps it could be an inn?

[canas is back]

38 I would normally pick the well but we want to figure out what's going on BEFORE jumping down a place where we might not come back

[Hypnotic13]

20.... >.> I loves me some ducks.

[Showsni]

I guess 38 wins out? As you've surmised, cross shape means religious building; and if you ask someone to think of Glastonbury, the three things they'd think or would almost certainly be "Festival", "Tor" and "Abbey", right? This is Glastonbury Abbey!



Of course, it was still standing in those days.

38

The smell of incense and the sonorous sound of Gregorian chanting which emanates from this great colonnaded building would give you the hint (if you didn't know already) that you have reached Glastonbury Abbey. A brace of burly tonsured monks stand guard on the entrance.

"Good brothers," you cry. "Pray permit me entrance!"

"Kiss off!" they reply piously, in unison.

This Church Militant business (which you may have learned about during your adventure in the GATEWAY OF DOOM) is a real pain in the vestry. It looks as though you will have to hack your way past these two fellows if you want to gain entrance to the Abbey. You may challenge them, if you so decide, at 25, or return to your map and seek out a safer destination.

So, more choices; either we fight the pair of monks, or you pick somewhere else to visit. Please decide below; either choose a building to visit, or choose to fight the monks!

Attached Files

•  HNI_0086.JPG   93.27K   0 downloads

[Sir Deimos]

51. I think we could take those monks, but beating up holy men hardly seems worthwhile.

[Steel Samurai]

They sound like bastards. Attack them.

[frogmonkeys]

Lmao I agree with synile. I don't see a point yet to start fighting. Perhaps after trying to gather more info we can come back and attack em.

[Showsni]

So, two votes to not attack, Synile wants to go to 51 instead and frogmonkeys didn't seem averse to it before... I guess we'll head for 51! 30 being the market square, it makes sense the building standing in it blongs to the Market-master.

51

You knock.

"Go away!" calls a voice from deep inside this house. "Go on - go away!"

You knock again, politely.

The door opens a fraction and one beady eye peers out. "Go away - Oh, it's you young Pip. I thought it might be the Wizard Kran."

"No sir, it's not," you say, recognising the Market-master, Bernard Gruikback.

"No, I can see that now. I suppose you want the key to the stockyard? Not that it'll do you any good since the stockyard's empty. Part of the CUrse, you know. Still, there's nothing else here but the key and you're welcome to it if you want it."

Take the useless key if you want it and return to your map.

I'll assume we do want it, and add it to our character sheet. Now we need to pick another place to visit from the map above - or go back and challenge the monks.

PIP's LIFE POINTS 44 Starting: 44

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0

EQUIPMENT

EJ: hits on roll of 4+, causes 5 extra damage
Dragonskin jacket: Deducts 4 from damage done to you
Axe
Boots
Fishing Rod
Knife
Rope (50' coil)
Rations (1 week's supply)
Stockyard Key

Healing Potions: 1 Potion, 1 Salve
Gold Pieces: None

Attached Files

•  HNI_0087.JPG   83.31K   0 downloads

[Sir Deimos]

There's no way that key is actually useless. Let's head to the stockyard and investigate. I'm too lazy to check what number the stockyard is.

[frogmonkeys]

Well since we are already in the square why not investigate it a little more? There's what? A well and a duckpond right? Can we check those first?

[canas is back]

so the key doesn't count toward the six item limit? well I guess a peek down the well couldn't hurt too much.