Chasms of Malice is the 30th entry of the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks, written by Luke Sharp.
Since ancient times, the city of Gorak has been protected by its great seals and by the True Shield, keeping the eldritch Malice at bay in the depths. However, one day, disaster strikes: the seals are undone, the shield is missing, and a massive crevice in the ground, leading to the Malice-ridden chasms under the city. The fallen champion of Gorak, Orghuz, has awoken and sent his minions to steal the Shield: if this artifact is destroyed, his loyal Khuddam servants will soon multiply by seven until they'll become an endless horde of death and corruption. However, the wizard Astragal has used his divinatory powers to reveal the hero who will recover the Shield, and that is you, a humble third-assistant rabbit skinner. You're the last living relative of Orghuz's brother Tancred the Magnificent, worthy owner of the Shining Sword, and only hope of Gorak. Armed with the royal sword, a few essential items and the help of the cat goddess Tabasha the Bazouk, you will have to descend down the Chasms, fighting the forces of Orghuz and his seven Khuddams in order to recover the True Shield and save the upper lands from the spreading Malice.
Chasms of Malice features an entire adventure set underground, and mostly follows the standard patterns, though with some unique quirks such as the one-strike combats, usage of fuel to both light the environment and cook food, the secret codes or the presence of Tabasha, which can act as either a potion or a portable Deus ex Machina.
Chasms of Malice provides examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Astragal the archmage is the most powerful wizard in Khul, but is quite absent-minded.
- Achilles' Heel: You discover that Orghuz has one, and can only be disposed of if he's hit in said weak spot with the Shining Sword. It's the left shin.
- The Archmage: Astragal, Khul's answer to Yaztromo.
- Beneath the Earth: The entire story is set underground, starting from the castle vaults where the crack opened and leading you across a maze of caverns, crypts and underground castles.
- Big Bad: Technically Orghuz, though the Malice is the evil entity moving his body.
- Blob Monster: One of the enemies in Orghuz's fortress is a living mass of sludge which tries to kill you.
- Cats Are Magic: Tabasha is a Bazouk, a goddess-cat with incredible powers who becomes your Non-Human Sidekick for the story, able to help you out nine times.
- The Chosen One: As you're the only blood relative of Tancred (aside from Orghuz, obviously), you're the only one in Gorak who can wield the Shining Sword and retrieve the True Shield.
- Co-Dragons: Six of the seven Khuddams are equal in power and serve Orghuz as his strongest warriors. Should he manage to break the True Shield, the Khuddams will grow to the size of an army while still retaining all their powers.
- The Dragon: Khuddam Friankara, sole woman of the seven, is described as the most powerful and as Orghuz's right hand woman. Unlike the others, she fights with her bare Femme Fatalons dripping poison.
- Cool Sword: You start the game with the Shining Sword, which belonged to Tancred and allows you to illuminate the caverns around you (wether it's a Laser Blade or a shining sword it's not specified), and can become even cooler if you temper it in the Heartfire of Minosaddur. The bad news? Orghuz has its twin, and will use it in combat.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The Gaddon are humanoid folks who live in the dark caves far below earth's crust... but are decent fellows and willing to help you out.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Malice itself is arguably the true villain of the story, so much of an abomination she can't appear directly and uses her minion Orghuz to do her bidding instead.
- Everything Is Trying to Kill You: The caverns are full of monsters of various types out for your blood.
- Fallen Hero: Orghuz, Tancred's brother and co-paladin of Gorak, was corrupted and possessed by the Malice.
- Final Boss: Orghuz again, and it quite a long, challenging boss battle...
- God Was My Co-Pilot: Your feline companion, Tabasha, is a deity in the form of a cat.
- Golem: Two unusual guardian golems taking the form of stone hawks.
- Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: An important clue, the traitor knight's emblem consist in crossed daggers, a weapon associated with deceit and treachery.
- Gotta Catch Them All: You're advised to kill all the seven Khuddam to make the final battle with Orghuz easier. Subverted, you can just ignore them if you happen to find the Heartfire of Minosaddur.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Azleff, former paladin of Gorak, went missing. You can find him as a brainwashed prisoner of Orghuz, forced to create more Slave Collars for the other servants.
- Ignored Enemy: When the Khuddam in the Dragon's Breath Inn reveals himself, you're given a chance to turn around and leave the Inn, and he won't even pursue you!
- Infinity +1 Sword: The Shining Sword can be further enforced by tempering it in the Heartfire of Minosaddur, which allows you to bypass Orghuz's Resurrective Immortality.
- Interesting Situation Duel: A few sections have you defending yourself from some Orcs as you climb a wall over a chasm.
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: The light symbolized by your sword, the fuel you need to cook food and see in the darkness and the Heartfire of Minosaddur, opposed to the dim darkness of the Malice and Orghuz's fortress.
- MacGuffin: The True Shield is the artifact preventing the birth of more Khuddams. With the shield destroyed, the Malice will be able to spawn an army of them.
- MacGuffin Guardian: In order to access the Heartfire, you must first beat the Guardian of Minosaddur, the two-headed monster known as Shadrac.
- Marathon Boss: Orghuz: first, you must see through his spells. Then you must kill him, once for every still-living Khuddam. Once he's down, you must guess/remember where's the weak spot and stab him there to finish him off for good. If you temper your sword in the flames of Minosaddur, then you can skip to the weakness part after killing him once.
- The Maze: Orghuz's fortress is a labyrinth of dark rooms which can be confusing to navigate.
- The Mole: One of the reasons why Orghuz was so successful. In the endgame, you must guess which one of the knights assisting your escape is the traitor.
- Optional Boss: Technically speaking, it's quite possible to finish the game without meeting the Khuddams, but for each missing Khuddam you'll have to fight Orghuz one more time. However, if you managed to temper your sword in the Heartfire of Minosaddur, then you don't need to fight Orghuz that many times.
- Our Ghouls Are Creepier: A "long fanged" Ghoul is one of the encounters, though he tries to murder you in your sleep with a dagger. A bunch of ghouls can be disposed off with a spell which summons a monstrous pair of hands to drag them to their doom.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: The traitor is disposed off after you took care of Orghuz and his Khuddams.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Tancred the Magnificent in the past, and now you, his latest heir.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Orghuz and his Khuddam were sealed underground by the Seals of Gorak, and the True Shield prevented the Khuddam from spawning. However, the seals were broken, and now Orghuz is trying to destroy the Shield as well.
- Sinister Scimitar: All the Khuddam safe for Friankara (who wields an axe but also fights unarmed) wield evil-looking, serrated scimitars, and so does the Shadac monster. The illustrations imply that Orghuz's Shining Sword has a curved blade.
- With This Herring: While the situation is indeed dire and the good guys are in a hurry, you're still expected to stop Orghuz and the Malice armed with nothing but the admittedly cool Shining Sword, a leather armor, cape, few provision and fuel and nothing else.
