Shadow King (Fighting Fantasy)

The Shadow King is the main villain and final enemy of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Night of the Necromancer. He is a demonic Death Lord who aims to take over the Earthly Plane. He is worshipped by a doomsday cult which seeks to bring about his reign, but he is eventually defeated by the story’s protagonist, the Lord of Valsinore.

About the Shadow King
Not much is known about the Shadow King in himself. He is described as one the Death Lords, but no further explanation is given. He might be a minor evil deity, or at least of Demi-God status, and was certainly a high-ranking follower of the High Lords of Evil and Chaos: the Demon Gods Death, Disease and Decay. What is sure is that he is on a more or less equal footing with the Demon Princes themselves; that he has considerable influence over death, undeath, the afterlife and the malevolent souls; and that he is worshipped by many evil doers in the continent of the Old World, and perhaps in the entire world of Titan. He seeks to enter the Earthly Plane and raise all undeads in the Old World from their graves to take over Titan, cover it in darkness and claim the souls of its entire population.

The Shadow King is described as a ghastly creature made of pure darkness, twice as tall as a man, with no visible face except from two bright red eyes, wearing a shroud and a dark armour with a crown-like helmet; much in the same way as the Witch-King of Angmar.

He is a highly powerful being, whose influence alone troubles the rest of the departed souls, plagues the slumbers of livings with nightmares awful enough to manifest as spiritual entities, takes control of magic creatures trying to delve in his domain, and causes the rise of many ghastly monsters. He is able to break the spirit of those he speaks to and make them his slaves, to raise undeads at will, to open gates between both sides of the Veil to send his servants to the Earthly Plane, to prevent his followers from dying, and to allow his worshippers to channel his power through magical orbs.

Given his influence over death, it can be guessed that he was one of Death's champions, probably linked to Death's major lieutenant Voivod the Waster. He most likely took part in the First Battle: which opposed the Gods of Titan to the Demon Gods, and escaped after his masters were banished into the Void (just like Voivod and the Night Dragon), and was very likely sealed in the Spiritual Planes.

Game introduction
The playable character is a powerful holy knight, member of the Templars of Telak the God of Warriors; just like the hero who defeated the Dread Lord Belgaroth. He or she spent three years fighting against a Cult of Death in the principality of Bathoria. Now that the sect has been destroyed, he/she returns to his or her domain of Valsinore, located in the country of Ruddlestone, which he/she left under the care of his/her chamberlain Count Unthank. However, just as he/she arrives near his/her castle, he/she is ambushed by a member of the Cult of Death who kills him/her with a bolt of Dark Energy. Now a ghost, the playable character resolves to discover why he/she was murdered and to punish the culprit. However, he/she soon discovers that Valsinore has been cursed by evil forces, with spectres, undeads and monsters roaming the land.

The playable character being a ghost is a unique feature of the gamebook. He/She cannot hold any object and absorbs the energy of his defeated foes to heal himself/herself. He or she cannot go through doors marked with a rune that repels spirits, and develops several ghostly powers as the story progresses; becoming able to make things levitate, to fly, to possess people’s body and gain their skill (power level) and stamina (life-points), to turn invisible, to cause awful illusions, among others. The player also has a score of willpower that enables him/her to remain calm in frightful situations.

Upon losing all his/her stamina, the player is sent to the Land of the Dead and what happens next depends on how he/she led the quest. He/She will encounter the Watcher of the Gate, guardian of afterlife, who might allow him/her to return to the Earthly Plane if he/she is convincing enough. If the player can tell the Watcher the name of the one who had him/her killed, the Watcher will give him/her the murderer's Hourglass of Life and send him/her back whence he/she came to put a definite end to the culprit's wretched life.

The quest in itself
The first thing the player must do in his or her quest is to deal with the Death Acolyte who killed him/her. The Acolyte must be dealt with directly or he might banish the player to the other side of the Veil. He has only 7 in skill and 7 in stamina, but he escapes when weakened enough. Then, going near the cromlech of the Nine Maiden gives the player a significant power up but he/she must leave immediately after and the quest can really begin. The player can enlist the help of the Seer Madame Zelda but must avoid the witch Mother Toadsfoot and the ghastly Baron Blood: a spectre tasked to bring wandering souls to the Land of the Dead. If the player choses to venture in the countryside, he/she can investigate the ghost village of Fetchfen, hometown of Count Unthank, and learn that he made a pact with the Shadow King and offered him the souls of all the villagers (including his own) in exchange for immortality. There, he/she must defeat Nosferatu of Bathoria, a former Vampire Lord driven away from his domain by the player’s crusade in Bathoria, who took shelter in the ghost town but degenerated into a grotesque humanoid bat because he had no-one to feed upon.
 * Before fighting, the player must win a test of willpower to resist the vampire’s hypnotic gaze, or become his slave for eternity. Nosferatu is a powerful enemy with 11 in skill and 14 in stamina. The player can flee the fight but if he/she does so, Nosferatu calls forth a swarm of bats who deals a dice roll worth of damage.

The player can also head towards the Icefinger Tower and fight the demonic Winter King to gain the powerful Spirit Stone.
 * Before fighting, the Winter King calls forth frozen undeads with 7 in skill and 6 in stamina. The Winter King himself is a powerful enemy with 11 in skill and 14 in stamina. If the player loses these fights, he/she will be turned into one of the Winter King’s Ice Ghost servants and the game will be lost.

When the player manages to enter the castle, he/she might reunite with his/her loyal hound Korzen who provides significant help against corporeal enemies, and his/her younger sister Oriana who provides valuable information. The player eventually learns that the responsible of his/her death is none other than Count Unthank, who is in fact a necromancer and the true master of the Cult of Death that the player fought in Bathoria. Unthank spread the Shadow King's influence over Valsinore and brought in many powerful Dread Knights. Because of this, the player must be cautious when talking to people as many will mistake him/her for an evil spirit mimicking him/her and will attack out of fright.

If the player ventures into the crypts, he/she must first possess a living being. There, he/she must fight against a dangerous Hellfire Golem and a Wraith Queen who took the player's magic sword Nightslayer from his/her corpse.
 * The Hellfire Golem has 9 in skill and 12 in stamina. Without a magic sword, the player's blow might cost it 1 stamina point instead of the regular 2. It can attack with regular blows, powerful blows that cost 4 stamina points, or fireballs that cost the result of a dice roll in stamina.
 * The Wraith Queen first summons a monster for the player to fight and tries to compel him/her into obedience, which can only be overcome by winning a test of willpower, then she attacks. She has 9 in skill and 10 in stamina, and can either attack with her claws or her ghastly wail (which costs 1 in stamina and 2 skill points for the following attack round), or summon a demonic imp with 6 in skill and 6 in stamina to fight by her side.

The player needs to possess a living being and to answer three enigmas in order to enter the dungeons. There, a necromancy spells assembles a bunch of bones into a Bonebeast which attacks the player; the Bonebeast's nature and power being determined by a dice roll.
 * The Chimerical Bonebeast has 9 in skill and 11 in stamina, the Living Fossil has 10 in Skill and 10 in stamina, and the Dragonkind has 11 in skill and 12 in stamina. It attacks with its claws, its tail (which costs 2 stamina points and 1 in skill for the following attack round), and its bite which costs 3 stamina points for the Chimerical Beast, 6 for the Living Fossil and 4 for the Dragonkind.

Many very useful items can be found in the dungeons, including the Codex Mortis (Unthank’s Grimoire), the Oil of Midnight, the magic scythe Amethyst Blade, and the magic Soul Shield. Finally, the player must fight a powerful guardian with 10 in skill and 10 in stamina before settling his/her score with Unthank once and for all.

Confronting Unthank
Unthank is found in the cromlech of the Nine Maiden, surrounded by many Death Acolytes, ghastly shadows and Dread Knights; and prepares to use Oriana's life-force during a moon eclipse to bring the Shadow King on the Earthly Plane. From then on, if the player loses all his/her stamina, he/she gets banished to the Land of the Dead whether or not he/she possesses someone.
 * The easiest solution is to rush towards Unthank, who blasts the player with a surge of dark energy that costs 3 stamina points and successfully brings forth the Shadow King... who casually kills him with a scythe.
 * Using an amulet only serves to weaken the player. Then the Shadow King will rise and dispose of his servant.
 * If the player tries to sneak into the ceremony, he/she will have to fight two shadows and watch Unthank summon his lord and get killed.
 * Using the Codex Mortis allows the player to cast three spells that can weaken, destroy or strengthen the two shadows that will attack him/her, while the necromancer summons his lord and gets killed.
 * Shattering the Spirit Stone unleashes a swarm of ghosts who attack Unthank’s servants. If the player takes profit of this to rescue Oriana, he/she will have to fight either a Death Acolyte or the Great Master of the Dread Knights (a formidable foe with 12 in skill and 12 in stamina), and the Shadow King will rise and kill Unthank.
 * If the player shatters the Spirit Stone and attacks the necromancer, he/she needs the Soul Shield to deflect his spell or gets banished to the Land of the Dead. The player can kill his/her foe without fight by shattering the Hourglass of Life that the Watcher of the Gate gave him/her. Otherwise, the necromancer attacks him/her with a black dagger and has 11 in skill and 10 in stamina. The Shadow King rises right after the traitor is dealt with.
 * If the player has the Watcher's hourglass, he/she can kill Unthank without fight by shattering it, but he/she will have to fight two dangerous Dread Knights with 9 and 8 in skill and 9 in stamina, whose blows can cost 3 stamina points instead of the regular 2, and the Shadow King will enter the Earthly Plane.

Confronting the Shadow King
After Unthank's death, the player gets resurrected by the life-force that the necromancer stole to keep himself alive. As such, should he/she die again, his/her soul will belong to the Shadow King and the game will be lost. The fearsome Death Lord orders the player to bow down before him and he/she must win a test of willpower to avoid becoming his slave and losing the game. If the Great Spectre killed Unthank himself, he will raise him as an undead with 9 in skill and 8 in stamina, who deals grievous additional damage if he strikes the player twice in a row.

The Shadow King is a very powerful foe with 13 in skill (1 point over the regular maximum) and 18 in stamina. If the player lacks a magic weapon or an item allowing him/her to win without fight, he/she is doomed. Shattering the Spirit Stone or using the Codex Mortis unleashes a swarm of ghosts who overwhelm and destroy the demon. However, using the latter forces the player to a test of willpower; should he/she fail he/she becomes the Shadow King's slave and loses the game. Also, using the Oil of Midnight against the Great Spectre costs him 2 skill points and 6 stamina points. When fighting the Shadow King, the player gains 1 points of skill if he/she wields the sword Nightslayer or the Amethyst Blade. Also, striking the demon with Nightslayer costs him 3 stamina points and striking him with the Amethyst Blade costs him 4 stamina points. With both the Oil of Midnight and one of the two magic weapons, the Shadow King can be defeated without major troubles.

With the Shadow King gone and the player and his/her sister safe and sound, the rising sun destroys the vengeful ghost of Unthank before he can strike and banishes him to the Realm of the Damned for eternity; ending the threat of the Cult of Death for good.