Snow Witch

Shareella, best known as the Snow Witch is the main villain of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Caverns of the Snow Witch. She is a highly powerful vampire witch who made a pact with an Ice Demon to bring a new Ice Age over the continent of Allansia and take it over. Shareella is with little doubt the most famous among the - few - notable villainesses of the series. She is noted for the two confrontations against her and for being defeated around the middle of the story, with the player having to break the deadly spell she cast on him/her for the last part of the game.

Background
In Caverns of the Snow Witch, the villainess is never referred to by her name, only by her title. Like several other villains of the series, her name and her background were revealed in the additional sources such as Out of the Pit or Titan-The Fighting Fantasy World.

Shareella was born in the city of Zengis in Allansia, the most featured continent of the world of Titan. Zengis is famous for having the biggest religious activity in the entire Allansia, and like everyone else here, she was raised to assume a spiritual role. In Shareella's case, she was chosen to become a mage. Shareella was a particularly talented student and at first a wise young woman, until the fated day when she was ordered to travel in the snowy heights of the Icefinger Mountains for her training. There, she ventured in a valley where she found a huge statue of ice representing a demon, or so it seemed. In fact, there was no statue but an actual Ice Demon, who corrupted her and turned her into an evil witch. In the following years, the demon taught Shareella the ways of Dark Magic and Necromancy, completing her corruption until redemption was no longer possible.

Then, Shareella took command of the tribes of orcs, goblins and other evil creatures who worshipped the Ice Demon and had them dig the Crystal Caverns, her base of operations. She later began sending them to kidnap people from the nearby towns to be her slaves, binding them to her will with bewitched collars. At some point, Shareella relinquished her humanity and became a vampire, becoming immortal and further increasing her already great magical powers. She spent many years gathering her forces and honing her skills, with the ultimate goal to cast a new Ice Age over Allansia, (and possibly the entire world of Titan) where she would rule as an empress and where the Ice Demons would dwell freely. To that end, she recruited many powerful followers, including a morally dubious mercenary named Jamut Manhunter, an Illusionist mage and a tamed White Dragon that guards her inner sanctum.

About the Snow Witch
Shareella is unsurprisingly a fearsome witch, with incredible powers and mastery of Ice Magic, much mightier than the Ice Demon who corrupted her. She controls ice, snow and winter, she can cause hailstorms and blizzards at will, and almost every cold-dwelling creature (found in great numbers in the Icefinger Mountains) such as the ice-breathing White Dragon or the dangerous Yeti obey her. She is also vastly proficient in regular Dark Magic, as evidenced by her mastery of the dreadful Death Spell, the magical creatures she created and the collars of enslavement she crafted. (She can to kill any of her slaves through the collar.) She is able to summon supernatural beings and spirits and she can fire huge bolts of energy, potent enough to kill a well-built man in one shot. Shareella is also skilled in Necromancy, being able to raise undeads and to create zombie-replicas of her slaves.

Being a vampire, the Snow Witch has to rest all day in her coffin, to feed on blood and all the hindrances and advantages that comes with her state, such as the enhanced strength and the hypnotizing gaze. Should her body be destroyed, she bewitched a crystal orb which would house her spirit, which can only be destroyed through a magical mean.

The Snow Witch was once a wise and lawful young woman, whose curiosity proved her undoing, but she is now a malevolent, ambitious and sadistic villainess who enjoys to torture her slaves, either physically or through foul mind games. She is also very (too much) confident in her abilities and she likes to play life-threatening games against her foes. This liking for games would ultimately lead to her downfall.

The Snow Witch is still associated with the Ice Demon who corrupted her, who rules her armies alongside her, being worshipped as an idol, and watches over her domains while she rests. It is not known who obeys whom between the two but it is fair to assume that they simply work together toward a common goal. The Snow Witch being interested in ruling the continent and the demon being interested in taking a territory away from the Gods' influence for his kind to dwell.

In Caverns of the Snow Witch
The player works at first for the rich merchant Big Jim Sun, being tasked to escort and protect Big Jim's horse-drawn carts. The story begins when Big Jim offers him or her a reward of 50 gold coins if he/she manages to kill a Yeti that frequently attacks his carts. The player then ventures on his/her own in the Icefinger Mountains, following the tracks of the creature, which is eventually found and slain. The Yeti is a powerful foe with 10 in skill (level of power) and 12 in stamina, (life-points) who can cause some troubles.

Upon returning, the player meets a dying man named Harlak Erlisson, who tells him/her about the Crystal Caves which he tried to escape at the cost of his life, and the dreadful Snow Witch who plans to cast a new Ice Age on Allansia. In his dying breath, Erlisson tells the player about the immense treasure that the Snow Witch has ransacked. Motivated by both his/her sense of duty and his/her greed, the player resolves to put an end to the threat of the Snow Witch.

The player then finds the Crystal Caves and sneak into it, witnessing the Witch's army and the countless slaves who are compelled to work for her. The player must by no mean get caught, or else the monsters would place a collar of enslavement on him/her. There is also many monsters that the player will have to fight, including mighty Warriors made of carved crystal, a powerful, demonic Night Stalker, and none other than the Ice Demon who corrupted Shareella in the first place.


 * Surprisingly enough, the Ice Demon is weaker that the other monsters mentioned above, but he remains a dangerous enemy with 9 in skill, 11 in stamina, and a icy breath that can cause additional damages.

Then, the player must defeat the Illusionist, whose power source is the prism he is holding. Upon reaching the Snow Witch's vault, the player will have to face the fearsome White Dragon who guards it.


 * It has 12 in skill (the maximum available) 14 in stamina and in addition to its claws, it attacks by breathing ice, which can cost 3 stamina points, making it the most dangerous enemy faced in the game.

Confronting the Snow Witch
Like Zanbar Bone before her, Shareella, the wicked Snow Witch numbers among the very few Fighting Fantasy villains who are not defeated in an actual fight.

She raises from her tomb and tries to hypnotize the player, who must overcome it, or else the vampire witch will turn the player into her vampire slave and win the fight. Then the player needs an ornated stake and to have at least 10 in skill to pierce the Witch in the heart and destroy her, otherwise everything is doomed.

Second Confrontation
Having slain the Witch, the player must escape the Crystal Caves, tracked down by all her angry minions. The player then befriends two former slaves still wearing the magical collar, an elf named Redswift and a dwarf named Stubb, who follow him/her.

In their escape, the three come across a crystal orb that houses Shareella's spirit. Her undead body may be destroyed but the Snow Witch is still alive and as dangerous as ever. She creates two zombie clones of Redswift and Stubb that the player must fight and destroy. Then the Witch challenges the player in a game of discs. If the player hasn't got any discs or tries to attack the orb, the villainess kills him/her with a bolt of magical energy. The same fate awaits the player if he/she loses the game.

There is a different figure on each disc, (star, triangle, circle) and each one beats another much like the Rock-Paper-Scissors game. The player hides a disc and the Witch names a figure. If the player hides the corresponding figure or the one that can beat it, he/she goes to the next stage in which he/she needs to hide the figure that can beat the one named by the Witch to win. If the player manages to win this difficult game, the orb shatters alongside the villainess' evil spirit, defeating her once and for all.

The Death Spell
With Shareella dead and gone, the player relinquishes many items to store an immense fortune in gold coins. Then the player and his two friends escape from the Crystal Caves and return to the temperate regions of central Allansia. When the trio comes near Stubb's dwarven village of Stonebridge, they discover that King Gillibran's magical hammer has been stolen and that without its might the village is threatened by the nearby tribes of trolls. Stubb then bids farewell to his friends and takes part in the search.

Unfortunatelly, Redswift and the player discover shortly after that they are victims of a Death Spell cast by the Snow Witch. Their strength and their life itself are gradually fading away and they will soon die if the curse is not quickly dispelled. The only one who can help them is the legendary Healer, who lives secluded. (The Healer was later revealed to be Pen Ty Kora, one of the most powerful and benevolent mages of Titan, alongside Arakor Nicodemus and Gereth Yaztromo with whom he learnt magic.)

The more the story progresses the more the player's stamina decreases, and if the player doesn't drinks the life potion owned by a dark elf whom he/she had to fight, the game is lost. However, Redswift could not drink the potion and nothing can save his life. Upon encountering the Healer, the player must accomplish a long ritual to undo the curse, including many trials, such as an encounter with a Banshee who predicts the player death. (The player must by no mean fight against the powerful undead, who is a fearsome foe with 12 in skill and 12 in stamina.) Then, the player must climb his/her way towards the summit of Firetop Mountain, the infamous hideout of the dreaded dark wizard Oldoran Zagor, who was slain some time ago by an adventurer, in order to complete the ritual.

After being relieved of the curse by the Healer and his powerful Phoenix, the player decides to venture towards Stonebridge to see Stubb again and help his people.

Trivia

 * The fact that the magical hammer of the king of Stonebridge is lost and must be retrieved is the plotline of the gamebook Forest of Doom, which was continued by the gamebook Temple of Terror. In spite of having been written later, this gamebook is thus the first part of a trilogy of the author Ian Livingstone, consisting of Caverns of the Snow Witch, Forest of Doom and Temple of Terror.


 * Shareella's page on Titannica the Fighting Fantasy Wiki: http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Shareella