History Literature / ThePortOfPeril

''The Port of Peril'' is the 66th entry of the Literature/FightingFantasy gamebook series, written by Ian Livingstone as a brand new adventure. It's a call back to many earlier books set in Allansia and meant to be an indirect sequel to Literature/CityOfThieves1983.

Overall, The Port of Peril is Ian's standard adventure, sometimes slightly more forgiving than usual. While it does feature items needed to save you from instant death situations, said items tend to be close enough to their puzzle, so you won't end up dying ages after a wrong choice. It features plenty of places to see and a slightly less linear path. On the other hand, the art for this book was the same as the art of the 2018 reprint, and thus critically reviled and hated. Furthermore, there are a few issues with the prose being inconsistent with the rules. That being said, it's certainly a decent title, and worth a look for fans of the series, especially as a sequel to City of Thieves.

* CowTools: You start the game with a bag full of trash, and none of it is obviously useful. You can also find plenty of items on your quest, though only about a third of them are actually of use.

* FantasyGunControl: For once, in a story set in Allansia, there's a single flintlock pistol you can obtain from some gamblers in Port Blacksand. Due to their rarity, you need to find lead bullets and have it fixed by a blacksmith, who also sells you powder.

** The rules section tells you that you start the game with ten provisions and you can eat one when not in combat to recover 4 Endurance points... but once the story begins, you are told that you have no food and need to rummage through the trash to find something to eat.

You are a hungry and down-on-your-luck adventurer looking for a job or food in Chalice, where you stumble on a treasure map marking a treasure hidden in Skull Crag somewhere in the Moonstone Hills. You welcome the opportunity, but soon enough, it becomes clear that this story is not so straightforward as it seems: the chest is empty, and an encounter with the ninja tracker Hakasan Za and a fatally-wounded mason reveals that Allansia is threatened by a great evil: Zanbar Bone, the infamous Night Prince, thought to be gone when a [[Literature/CityOfThieves1983 a mysterious adventurer destroyed him and his tower]], has returned from the dead and wants to conquer Allansia by corrupting the stone tower of the great wizard Yaztromo of Darkwood. Only with the help of the Wizard Nicodemus and his lost Ring of the Burning Snakes this threat can be overcome. As Yaztromo's tower grows blacker, you must find a way to save Allansia from the return of this undead fiend.

''The Port of Peril'' is the 66th entry of the Literature/FightingFantasy gamebook series, written by Ian Livingstone as a brand new adventure. It's a call back to many earlier books set in Allansia and meant to be an indirect sequel of City of Thieves.

Overall, The Port of Peril is Ian's standard adventure, sometimes slightly more forgiving than usual. While it does feature items needed to save you from instant death situations, said items tend to be close enough to their puzzle, so you won't end up dying ages after a wrong choice. It features plenty of places to see and a slightly less linear path. On the other hand, the art for this book was the same as the art of the 2018 reprint, and thus critically reviled and hated. Furthermore, there are a few issues with the prose being inconsistent with the rules. That being said, it's certainly a decent title, and worth a look for fans of the series, especially as a sequel to Literature/CityOfThieves1983.

You are a hungry and down-on-your-luck adventurer looking for a job or food in Chalice, where you stumble on a treasure map marking a treasure hidden in Skull Crag somewhere in the Moonstone Hills. You welcome the opportunity, but soon enough, it becomes clear that this story is not so straightforward as it seems: the chest is empty, and the encounter with a wandering Ninja Huntress and a fatally-wounded mason reveals that Allansia is threatened by a great evil: Zanbar Bone, the infamous Night Prince thought to be gone when a [[Literature/CityOfThieves1983 a mysterious adventurer destroyed him and his tower]], has returned from the dead and wants to conquer Allansia by corrupting the stone tower of the great wizard Yaztromo of Darkwood. Only with the help of the Wizard Nicodemus and his lost Ring of the Burning Snakes this threat can be overcome. As Yaztromo's tower grows blacker, you must find a way to save Allansia from the return of this undead fiend.

Overall, The Port of Peril is Ian's standard adventurer, sometimes slightly more forgiving than usual (While it does feature items needed to save you from instant death situations, said items tend to be close enough to their puzzle, so that you won't end up dying ages after a wrong choice) and features plenty of places to see and a slightly less linear path. On the other hand, the art for this book was the same as the art of the 2018 reprint, and thus critically reviled and hated. Furthermore, Ian seems to have not thought too much about the rules, as seen in some minor details. That being said, considering it as the newest entry in the Fighting Fantasy saga, it's certainly a decent title.

* TheAtoner: Gunnard Jaggle was a former adventurer who lost his greatest treasure to some thieves, which lead to him going insane and putting hundreds of trapped treasure boxes in caverns and crypts all around Allansia... but now that he's older and wiser he genuinely regrets acting so immaturely and is trying to recover all the boxes he left behind. He even cries upon learning that surely his boxes have claimed some victims.

* BlackKnight: Klash the Chaos Warrior is a gigantic warrior in a black armor covered in SpikesOfVillainy, complete with face-obscuring helmet, cape and broadsword. He even hinders your pass on a bridge in the middle of Port Blacksand.
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:How you can finish Zanbar off once and for all. If you don't have an actual pistol you can rely on a Demon Dagger, but it's harder to pull off.]]

** ''Literature/TheWarlockOfFiretopMountain'': It's possible for you to travel all the way to Firetop Mountain... unfortunately for a game over only, as you have to go north.

** Literature/{{City of Thieves|1983}}: Unsurprisingly, since this book is a sequel of that adventure. You get to visit Port Blacksand again before departing to fight Zanbar Bone, but this time the visit is shorter.
*** As a subtler nod to the book, you can find Lotus Root and some Hag's Hair in this book, these were the items that killed Zanbar Bone the first time.

* CameBackStrong: Zanbar Bone returns from the demonic dimensions revived, this time as Demon Prince with greatly enhanced powers, which forces two powerful wizards such as Nicodemus and Yaztromo to join forces and do their best to defeat him.
* {{Catchphrase}}: As the first of the Scholastic new books, Yaztromo at the end of the book says the new series's catchphrase "May Your Stamina Never Fail!".
* ChainOfDeals: The game opens with one: you're so poor you're forced to scavenge a meal of stale bread and half-rotten tomatoes and start with a stash of seemingly-useless crap: talking to a nearby sweeper allows you to trade an item for a snack of bread and honey, then a bottle of Snake Oil, then one of Skunk Oil.

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The reason why the protagonist has so much junk in this book, he really loves picking up whatever he finds especially if its loot in combat, such as the jagged knife from a Dark Elf which he keeps as a good luck souvenir.

* CowTools: This game have you start with a bag full of trash. You can also find plenty of items on your quest, though about 1/3 of them are actually of use.

* {{Cyclops}}: One named "Cy" works as a blacksmith in Chalice and is incredibly skilled, making swords worth 25 Golden Pieces at least. He can sell you a Demon Dagger, a well-balanced and sharp but nonmagical dagger. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Just do not try to go for]] a FiveFingerDiscount.

* DeadlyGas: The trapped boxes left by Gunnard contain vials of green toxic gas which is deadly. He will also throw one of said vials inside his house if you're inside and pretend to not be at home.
* DeathTrap: Almost as bad as Deathtrap Dungeon, good luck finding the safe passage to the treasure chest, you were looking for. Heck, even Hakasan gets in on the act - she's rigged a hidden tripwire before she meets you. If you decide to attack her upon first meeting her, her little trap will end you.
* TheDogBitesBack: You can encounter a man who was tied up to act as a living scarecrow and guard a patch of blueberries from some Blue Imps. If you release him, after telling you how he ended up in such a predicament he'll gorge on the berries he was forced to watch over.
* DoomedByCanon: Big Nose is never going to find Big Leg alive.

* DumpsterDive: Your adventurer starts off digging through garbage bins to look for food, it's then he meets a friendly janitor who's willing to trade your junk (which he has actually needs) for food and other stuff.
* DungeonShop: After rescuing Nicodemus, while the two of you are on the dangerous journey back to Darkwood Forest, you encounter a vendor who has some interesting items to sell including the useful Venom Sword.
* ExperiencedProtagonist: Your hero is an well-experienced adventurer, unfortunately his experience is often one of failure and bouts of unemployment. His days of adventuring hasn't netted him much riches, but it did get him quite a few odds and ends like a package of nails and etc.

* FoodAsBribe: Subverted, showing the Norgul a jar full of Sheeps' eyes and offering them to him if he lets you cross his lair fails, as the monster attacks you anyway using the jar as an impromptu cudgel.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The rules and the events in the game seem to disregard each other, especially when you start:
** First, the rules' section tells you that you start the game with 10 provisions and you can eat one when not in combat to recover 4 Endurance points... but the game soon declares that you are without food, your pack is empty and you have to rummage through the trash to find something to eat.
** While the rules, as usual, state that your SKILL and STAMINA scores cannot go beyond their starting level, and yet not only you get a cornucopia of Skill-enhacing items (including, apparently one which gives you a huge SKILL bonus for a single battle), but you even start gaining 1 STAMINA point for eating some food... in paragraph 1, where you should be full, and thus in no need to increase your health.
** Before due time, it's possible to keep walking back and forth the same two roads of Chalice, having the very same encounters (one of which is a battle) everytime, possibly because of an overview.
* GratuitousNinja: Your companion Hakasan Za is a Ninja Tracker from the Allansian city of Zengis. While she's quite the ActionGirl wielding a deadly curved sword, she performs very little ninja skills and is more like a highly-competent tracker.

** If you're arrested by the guards of Boar Villa in Chalice they won't take away the Iron Key in your possession (if you have it), which allows you to open your cell and sneak to safety undisturbed.
** Zigzagged in Azzur's palace: you can enter disguised as a guard, but even when you're in the barracks and without your helmets no-one is suspicious of you.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In Chalice, you can be hired by a worker to help him and his Ogre to do some heavy works, but then he refuses to pay you and has the Ogre threaten you. You can kill the Ogre to force him to pay you.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: In this adventure you can find both Gold Pieces and Copper Pieces, which are only used as coins early on in Chalice and serve no purpose as currency elsewhere.
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: While exploring the plains you can stumble into an exquisite Dwarven Shield made of bronze. If you have it, you can safely charge a trio of bandits using the shield to effortlessly block their arrows.
* MacGuffin: The Ring of the Burning Snakes, an extremely powerful ring which belonged to Nicodemus and would allow him to exerts his full powers and defeat even extremely powerful demonic beings. You must recover the ring so that you can have a chance against Zanbar Bone.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When Gunnard was robbed of his treasure he went mad with grief and put hundreds of trapped boxes to kill adventurers... but eventually he came back to his senses and tried to recover all the boxes. Learning that he did kill people with them causes him to be even more saddened.
* NintendoHard: While most of your enemies are weak, there's a couple of tough ones like the Chaos Warrior, the Troll Imperial Guard and the Quag-Shugguth demon. Additionally, surviving long enough to find the treasure chest you're first looking for means every passageway is a possible instakill deathtrap. Weapons and Armour don't improve you Initial Skill or Attack Strength, so you can't be better than what you started with. Finally you have no Provisions to restore health with. There's only a few opportunities to recover some health and often it's just a single Stamina point. Things do get easier when Hakasan joins you and you take most of her advice.
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: This book gives Zanbar Bone's origin (not even the Titan background book does that). Turns out Boney was also a student to the same master as Nicodemus and Yaztromo. But Zanbar turned on them and ended up fighting the master which resulted in Bone becoming a skeleton.
* PlayingWithFire: As the name suggests, the Ring of the Burning Snakes allows Nicodemus to wrap his enemies in incredibly hot flames, and even the Ring of White Flames, which is powerful enough to briefly make Zanbar Bone harmless.

* PowerUpLetDown: [[spoiler:Zanbar Bone us considerably mightier in his new form, with more uglies to summon, but contrary to the convoluted way of taking him down in the previous book, a BoomHeadshot kills him instantly. Justified in that he was first BroughtDownToNormal by an extremely powerful anti-evil spell designed to neutralize the mightiest demons. The likes of which even one of the best archmages in history could only cast with a potent PowerAmplifier. Without it, Boney would have [[NoSell laughed off the headshot]] as easily as he did with said archmage spells earlier.]]
* PuzzleBoss: Zanbar Bone is NighInvulnerable, and cannot be fought head on. In order to defeat him you must survive his swarm of demon insects, slay his pet and then have Nicodemus immobilize him with the Ring of the Burning Snakes. Once Zanbar's immobile, you must destroy his skull with one last roll using either a pistol or the Demon Dagger.
* RagsToRiches: Your hero is the poorest main character to date, but by the end of the book he'll likely have a sizable fortune with the potential to earn even more in the future as he's got the gratitude of two of the world's greatest wizards and the partnership of a very skilled ninja tracker.
* RainbowPimpGear: Your hero can end up being heavily armored and probably looks great if rather uncoordinated colorwise. First he can find a fine chainmail armor off a human skeleton, then he finds a bronze dwarven shield, some old magical Elf Boots, a winged helmet that belonged to an Elf Lord, and the gauntlets of a Chaos Warrior.
* RedHerring: The merchant you meet at the end before the final battle has three goods to sell you; too bad only one of them is useful.

* SaltSolution: A Giant Lava Worm attacks you in the Crystal Cavern, its HealingFactor big enough to reduce all damage taken to 1. However, if you found a bag of salt, you can use it to melt the monster instantly.
* SchmuckBait: Invoked by Gunnard: his trapped box were meant to kill unsuspecting adventurers with deadly gas. Luckily enough, it's possible to learn about this trick soon enough if you talk to the right people in Chalice.
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Or Gamebook Generosity; usually the game in certain portions give you a certain amounts of Gold which is usually high enough to buy an important item you'll need later on.
* TimeStandsStill: When you evade from Azzur's palace, Nicodemus casts such a spell on the guards. Unfortunately, it only lasts a handful of seconds, just enough to let you have the advantage.
* ToiletHumour: The battle with the Hippopig and its mighty fart is indicative of the direction the Scholastic new books are going. The next couple of books also made sure to fulfill Scholatic's potty humour quota.
* TouchedByVorlons: Yaztromo knows how vital your quest to find Nicodemus is, so he powers you with his magic. If you choose Stamina, he just heals you back a fair sum. But if you choose Luck or Skill, he'll change your maximum Initial stat of your choice to 12.
* TheUnfought: Lord Azzur, ruler of Port Blacksand is the direct servant of Zanbar Bone, but he's never directly confronted.
* VillainsNeverLie: When you question Klash about the Ring he stole, he smugly tells you that now the Ring is in possession of Lord Azzur and out of your reach. [[spoiler:He's lying, he's hiding the Ring in his gauntlets.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness: Averted with Zanbar, who this time is a full blown Demon Prince and lack his previous weaknesses. On the other hand his monstrous pet is normally a formidable opponent, but using a Venom Sword will allow you to pierce his hide easily and make a hard boss fight much more bearable.
* WhatTheHellHero: Hakasan will question your judgement and actions if you take decisions straying [[ButThouMust too far from the scripted plot]] or if you decide to pick a fight with Bignose for seemingly no reason.

** If you're bitten by the Gronks, applying dried nettle to the wound does nothing and actually makes you lose SKILL and ENDURANCE.
** In Chalice you can suffer a sting from a giant bloodsucking bug. If you foolishly listen to a local street urchin who gets a Copper coin from you and smear the blood of the bug on the wound you just aggravate your wounds.

* ZombieInfectee: If you kill the Zombie in the Man-Orcs' hut and read the note you find out that he was a miner who was bitten by a zombie and was abandoned there to transform.

* DumpsterDive: Your adventurer starts off digging through garbage bins to look for food, it's then he meets a friendly janitor who's willing to trade your VendorTrash (which he has actually needs) for food and other stuff.

* VendorTrash: There's a lot of garbage that your adventurer picks up in this book that has no worth, some of it is useful as items to trade. Most of it though is just trash.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoilers:How you can finish Zanbar off once and for all. If you don't have an actual pistol you can rely on a Demon Dagger, but it's harder to pull off.]]

* BoomHeadshot: How you can finish Zanbar off once and for all. If you don't have an actual pistol you can rely on a Demon Dagger, but it's harder to pull off.

* PowerUpLetDown: Zanbar Bone might be feeling a bit disappointed with his new form. Sure he's got some more uglies to summon, but getting hit in the head kills him instantly. Whereas his original form required that he's temporarily paralyzed with a silver weapon through the heart and specifically has Hag's Hair and Lotus Root rubbed into his eyesockets.

* RagsToRiches: Your hero is the poorest main character to date but by the end of the book he'll have a sizable fortune with the potential to earn even more in the future as he's got the gratitude of two of the world's greatest wizards and the partnership of a very skilled ninja tracker.

* RainbowPimpGear: Your hero can end up being heavily armored and probably looks great if rather uncoordinated colorwise. First he can find a fine chainmail armor off a human skeleton, then he finds a bronze dwarven shield, some old magical Elf Boots, a winged helmet that belonged to an Elf Lord, and thegauntlets of a Chaos Warrior.

* NintendoHard: While most of your enemies are weak, there's a couple of tough ones like the Chaos Warrior, the Troll Imperial Guard and the Quag-Shugguth demon. Additionally, surviving long enough to find the treasure chest you're first looking for means every passageway is a possible instakill deathtrap. Weapons and Armour don't improve you Initial Skill or Attack Strength, so you can't be better than what you started with. Finally you have no Provisions to restore health with. There's only a few opportunities to recover some health and often it's just a single Stamina point.

* FantasyGunControl: For once, in a story set in Allansia, there's a single flintrock pistol you can obtain from some gamblers in Port Blacksand. Due to their rarity, you need to find lead bullets and have it fixed by a blacksmith, who also sells you powder.

* NintendoHard: While most of your enemies are weak, there's a couple of tough ones like the Chaos Warrior, the Troll Imperial Guard and the Quag-Shugguth demon. Additionally, surviving long enough to find the treasure chest you're first looking for means every passageway is a possible instakill deathtrap. Weapons and Armour don't improve you Initial Skill or Attack Strength, so you can't be better than what you started with.Finally you have no Provisions to restore health with. There's only a few opportunities to recover some health and often it's just a single Stamina point.

* RainbowPimpGear: Your hero can end up being heavily armored and probably looks great if a rather uncoordinated. First he can find a fine chainmail armor off a human skeleton, then he finds a bronze dwarven shield, some old magical Elf Boots, a Winged Helmet that belonged to an Elf Lord, and gauntlets of a Chaos Warrior.

* GratuitousNinja: Your companion Hakasan Za is a Ninja from the Allansian city of Zengis. While she's quite the ActionGirl wielding a deadly curved sword, she performs very little ninja skills and is more like a highly-competent tracker.

* {{Cyclops}}: One named "Cy" works as a blacksmith in Chalice and is incredibly skilled, making swords worth 25 Golden Pieces at least. He can sell you a Demon Dagger. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Just do not try to go for]] a FiveFingerDiscount.

* InjuredLimbEpisode: Hakasan Za twists her ankle halfway through the adventure and is forced to leave you on your own, but she recovers and comes back to assist you in the FinalBattle.

* ExperiencedProtagonist: Your hero is an well-experienced adventurer, unfortunately his experience is often one of failure and bouts of unemployment. His days of adventuring hasn't netted him much riches, but it did get him quite a few odds and ends like a package of nails.

** While the rules, as usual, state that your SKILL and ENDURANCE scores cannot go beyond their starting level, and yet not only you get a cornucopia of Skill-enhacing items (including, apparently one which gives you a huge SKILL bonus for a single battle), but you even start gaining 1 ENDURANCE point for eating some food... in paragraph 1, where you should be full, and thus in no need to increase your health.

* RequiredPartyMember: Hakasan [[note]] unless you're stupid enough to attack her on sight [[/note]] will join you and prove to be an unvaluable companion. She even makes it to the very end of the book.

* ChainOfDeals: The game opens with one: you're so poor you're forced to scavenge a meal of stale bread and half-rotten tomatoes and with a stash of seemingly-useless crap: talking to a nearby sweeper allows you to trade an item for a snack of bread and honey, then a bottle of Snake Oil, then one of Skunk Oil.

* FoodAsBribe: Subverted, showing the Norgul a jar full of Sheeps' eyes and offering them to him if he lets you cross his lair fails, as the monster attacks you anyway.

** While the rules, as usual, state that your SKILL and ENDURANCE scores cannot go beyond their starting level not only you get a cornucopia of Skill-enhacing items (including, apparently one which gives you a huge SKILL bonus for a single battle), but you even start gaining 1 ENDURANCE point for eating some food... in paragraph 1, where you should be full, and thus in no need to increase your health.

%%* WeaksauceWeakness

!!This Gamebook contains examples of:

* BigBad: Zanbar Bone returns from the events of Literature/CityOfThieves1983 to threaten Allansia a second time, this time stronger than ever.

** Literature/TheWarlockOfFiretopMountain: It's possible for you to travel all the way to Firetop Mountain... unfortunately for a game over only, as you have to go north.
** Literature/TheForestOfDoom: you meet a dwarf called Bignose who's looking for Bigleg, the dwarf sent to find the Hammer of Stonebridge. He even tells you of a current Troll invasion they're fighting back.
** Literature/DeathtrapDungeon: it is mentioned that you were looking for the treasure left behind by Throm, the barbarian axeman who undertook the Walk in that book.
** Literature/IslandOfTheLizardKing: you can encounter Mungo in Port Blacksand and have a talk with him.
** Literature/CityOfThieves1983: Unsurprisingly, since this book is a sequel of that adventure. You get to visit Port Blacksand again before departing to fight Zanbar Bone, but this time the visit is shorter.
** Literature/EyeOfTheDragon: In Darkwood, you can tell Bignose that you're after a precious emerald known as the Eye of the Dragon.

* ChainOfDeals: The game opens with one: you're so poor you're forced to scavenge a meal of stale bread and half-rotten tomatoes and with a stash of seemingly-useless crap: talking to a nearby sweeper allows you to trade an item for a snack of bread and honey, then a bottle of Snake Oil, the one of Skunk Oil.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Downplayed, the Scholar cover pictures a massive, axe-wielding Troll facing you outside the Black Lobster Inn. Both events do happen in Port Blacksand, but aren't related, as you fight the Troll Guard in the palace.

** First, the rules' section tells you that you start the game with 10 provisons and you can eat one when not in combat to recover 4 Endurance points... but the game soon declares that you are without food, your pack is empty and you have to rummage through the trash to find something to eat.
** While the rules, as usual, state that your SKILL and ENDURANCE scores cannot go beyond their starting level not only you get a cornucopia of Skill-enhacing items (Including, apparently one which gives you a huge SKILL bonus for a single battle), but you even start gaining 1 ENDURANCE point for eating some food... in paragraph 1, where you should be full, and thus in no need to increase your health.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: If you're arrested by the guards of Boar Villa in Chalice they won't take away the Iron Key in your possession (if you have it), which allows you to open your cell and sneak to safety undisturbed. Zigzagged in Azzur's palace: you can enter disguised as a guard, but even when you're in the barracks and without your helmets noone is suspicious of you.

* PuzzleBoss: Zanbar Bone is NighInvulnerable, and cannot be fought head on. In order to defeat him you must survive his swarm of demon insects, slay his pet and then have Nicodemus immobilize him with the Ring of the Burning Snakes. Once Zanbar's immoble, you must destroy his skull with one last roll using either a pistol or the Demon Dagger.
* RedHerring: The merchant you meet at the end before the final battle has three goods to sell you, too bad only one of them is useful.

* SaltSolution: A Giant Lava Worm attacks you in the Crystal Cavern, its HealingFactor big enough to reduce all damage taken to 1. However, if you found a bag of salt, you can use it to melt the monster istantly.

* [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity Suspicious Librogame Generosity]]: Usually the game in certain portions give you a certain amounts of Gold which is usually high enough to buy an important item you'll need later on.

* VillainsNeverLie: When you question Klash about the Ring he stole he smugly tells you that now the Ring is in possession of Lord Azzur and out of your reach. [[spoiler: He's lying, he's hiding the Ring in his gauntlets.]]
* WeaksauceWeakness

* ZombieInfectee: If you kill the Zombie in the Man-Orcs' hut and read the note you find out that he was a miner who was bitten by a zombie and was abandoned there to transform.