Forest of Darkness was a book in the second run of the Endless Quest Gamebook series, and its storyline is a direct sequel to the tutorial VHS that came with the Dragon Strike board game.
The adventurers have just escaped from the castle of the wizard Teraptus, then after dividing up the treasure go their separate ways. While trekking back to civilization with one of his companions (up to the player), the fighter finds a new evil is at work in the forest, and demands the attention of the heroes.
Forest of Darkness provides examples of:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: The ending of the video had the adventurers immediately transported back to the king's castle by a Magic Mirror. Here, they escape the wizard but have to walk back instead, finding themselves on another adventure on the way.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Dare and Keela's constant arguing from the video gets implied to be this sometimes in the book.
- But Thou Must!: The first choice in the book is whether Dare shares the treasure with his party members, and his conscience gets the best of him no matter what you decide.
- Cool Sword: Dare's sword, which we find out is indestructible (and which explains, kind of, why he could use it to block the dragon's fire breath in the video).
- Named by the Adaptation: We find out the party members' names beyond their roles in the video. The fighter is Dare, the Elf is Greenthorn note , the thief is Keela, and the mage is Deathmark.
