Ooh boy, Stevie boy does NOT like it when you choose evil. The hardest mission of the lot, the least satisfying ending and you have to put up with his constant attempts to make you feel guilty about choosing the "wrong" person to serve.

So! Spells:

skill: not really needed

stamina: always good, take these if you have any spare spell gems

luck: also always good, take these if you have any spare spell gems

fire: not used

ice: avoid the leeches in the stream

illusion: needed to get the amulet from the master of frogs.

fear: makes the first swamp orc run away

withering: kills the crab grass, fear flowers and sword trees

curse: weakens the master of spiders

You get 6 spells. One should definitely be illusion as you need it to get the frog amulet. Fear and withering are probably the next most important as the swamp orcs and the sword trees can be quite nasty fights. The rest can be anything you want.

1 - challenge (48) or explain (95)

If you challenge them, you lose a luck point. No need to do this.

95 - agree (240) or disagree (122)

If you head out into the swamp alone, you face a luck test. Fail it and die, pass it and you lose 2 luck then decide you need a master.

240 - hear (205) or interrupt (155)

Since we won't be serving good, we can't interrupt him.

205 - good (335), neutral (27) or evil (255)

This is a guide for the evil quest.

255 - door (40) or leave (139)

You can wimp out if you want but if you want to serve evil, you need to go in.

40 - challenge (4), ring (50) or fearless (97)

If you challenge him or claim to be fearless, he summons a statue of a goblin (skill 7 stamina 6). If you kill it unharmed, he gives you a sword that boosts your skill by 1. But doesn't let you exceed your initial skill, and it's obviously impossible to have lost any yet so it's completely worthless. If you lose more than 6 stamina in the fight, Grimslade refuses to hire you. If you tell him about the ring, he summons a skill 16 stamina 12 demon. If you kill this thing, you can work for Grimslade.

4 - goblin (284) or Grimslade (123)

If you attack Grimslade he's skill 9 stamina 10. Obviously if you kill him, you can't work for him.

The goblin is a lot easier.

284 - destroy (156) or escape (315)

Besides anything else, if you escape the fight you can't serve Grimslade.

156 - 0 (241), 1-5 (193) or 6+ (326)

If you lose 6 stamina or more, Grimslade will want nothing to do with you. If you're unharmed you get a sword you can't use.

241 - You get the sword for all the difference it makes.

206 - We get six spells and told that we need 3 amulets.

9 - Into the swamp!

195 - step (58) or jump (91)

Stepping carefully is a luck test to avoid 1 damage. Jumping is 2 dice against your stamina. Since you start with at least 14, there is no way you can fail this roll.

91 - west (398), east (105) or south (208)

South is the way out of the swamp. We're not ready to leave yet. We'll basically be doing a loop through the front of the swamp. In order to keep our skill maximised as long as possible, we'll leave the fear flowers for the end. This means we go east.

105 - sit (21), investigate (55) or leave (390)

If you sit down, you gain a stamina point, this is not much help at this point.

If you investigate, you find a skill 7 stamina 8 bear. There is no reward for killing it.

Let's just leave.

390 - north (144), east (209) or west (195)

East is a pool beast, we don't want to fight him. North is the master of spiders, let's get his amulet.

144 - magic (74), attack (26) or talk (332)

If you talk to him, he kills you. So yeah, bit of a bad idea that one.

If you attack, he's skill 9 stamina 6 but deals 3 damage with every hit.

You can use fire to avoid the fight, but you won't get his amulet. You can use curse to knock him down to skill 8 stamina 9. Up to you if this is worth the loss of 1d6 stamina.

26 - It's a tough fight, but still easier than the master of wolves.

354 - The whole area catches fire and you decide to leave.

165 - north (388) or south (105)

North lets us continue our loop of the area.

388 - sword (134) or magic (167)

If you fight, it's skill 6 stamina 16. If you choose magic, a fire spell causes it to retreat and a wither spell kills it. Since we'll be coming back this way, you're better off withering it.

134 - If you expect to do badly in the fight, you can escape. You should be able to kill it though.

81 - The sign tells us to "beware of orcs".

187 - 187 - south (144), east (290) or west (10)

The orcs to the east will knock away one of your skill. If you'd rather keep the skill, go west, get the golden magnet then come back and go east.

290 - magnet (83) or not (151)

If you have the magnet, you lose either 1 or 5 stamina points depending on a luck test.

151 - attack (281), magic (399) or run (309)

You'll have to kill them. You can run away this time but we'll be coming back this way and if you don't use magic now you won't get a chance to do it later.

399 - fear (346) or illusion (169)

The illusion spell doesn't work. The fear spell gets rid of one swamp orc which makes the fight a lot easier.

346 - One of the swamp orcs runs away, though it doesn't say which one.

281 - There's three swamp orcs (skill 6 stamina 7, skill 7 stamina 7 and skill 6 stamina 5). If you feel the wording allows you to choose which of the orcs runs away, choose the second. Otherwise it seems safe to assume they meant the first one does.

135 - You find a map.

309 - north (47), south (53) or west (388)

The map we found says the frog master is to the south.

53 - greet (13) or attack (62)

If you attack, he runs away and you have to fight his frog minions. This is not conducive to getting his amulet.

13 - We work for Grimslade.

287 - truth (198) or lie (359)

Funny story: "I'm here to murder you and steal your amulet." is not the right thing to say to him.

359 - lucky (162) or unlucky (16)

If you fail the luck test, he realises you're lying and sets his frogs onto you. Even if you kill them, you won't get his amulet. If you miss out, your only options to make up for it are to try and take down the master of wolves or to go all the way to the back of the swamp to kill the master of gardens.

162 - leave (352), illusion (245) or attack (62)

If you want the amulet, you need an illusion spell.

245 - 2 down, 1 to go!

352 - Back to the swamp orc clearing.

323 - If you didn't kill them before, you have to now.

309 - north (47), south (53) or west (388)

If you want to heal 3 stamina, you can go north then east and drink the water. Once you've done that, come back and head west.

388 - We've been here before.

263 - If you didn't kill it before, it's still here and you can still fight or magic your way past it.

187 - south (144). east (290) or west (10)

The last amulet is the easiest. The master of birds is further west.

10 - examine (59) or not (227)

If you examine the area you find the golden magnet. With the swamp orcs dead, this is rather useless.

227 - north (66), east (388) or west (320)

Keep going west.

320 - run (368), fight (221) or magic (119)

Attacking it is dangerous as it is skill 11 stamina 4. If you cast fear, it runs away. If all you want is to get rid of the unicorn, just run back to the east and come back. It'll be gone when you return.

368 - We have to go back the same way.

348 - Which would send us back east.

10 - We've been here before.

142 - Nothing here.

227 - north (66), east (388) or west (320)

Go back to the west.

320 - We've been here before.

265 - The clearing is empty.

348 - north (94), south (157), east (10) or west (204)

And west again.

204 - run (269), attack (32) or magic (80)

OK, running and attacking will just further deplete your skill. If you got the frog amulet, there's no more fighting so just run and take the skill loss. Otherwise wither will get you out of here with the minimum damage.

269 - When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.

367 - north (304) or east (265)

The bird amulet is just to the north.

304 - attack (71) or ask (131)

Killing the parrot is easy but won't get you the amulet.

131 - We work for Grimslade.

288 - attack (391), ask (184) or spell (130)

If you attack, she just vanishes and you lose 2 luck.

The curse spell is instant death and the fear spell costs you the amulet.

I guess you could always try asking her for the amulet.

184 - It's a bit of a dodge since it isn't the real amulet but the intent is clearly for it to count as an amulet for the purposes of your mission.

217 - 3 amulets gotten, let's get out of here.

250 - If you killed the fear flowers, they stay dead. if not, you have to deal with them again.

269 - Lose 1 more skill and be glad there's no fighting left in the game.

367 - north (304) or east (265)

We want to go east.

265 - Back to the empty unicorn glade.

348 - north (94), south (157), east (10) or west (204)

The exit is to the south.

157 - fight (28) or magic (203)

The sword trees are skill 9 stamina 12. But we can magic our way past this situation.

203 - fire (75) or wither (393)

The fire is a minor inconvenience for the trees. It does a whopping 2 damage! Wither is the instant kill though.

393 - The wither spell is seriously the best thing about being evil.

22 - north (320), south (90) or west (11)

West is a dire beast, you don't want to fight that. South gets us out of here.

90 - ice (370), wither (254) or wade (44)

Wading exposes you to some leeches. Roll 2 dice and lose stamina equal to the lower of the two. If you cast either of the spells, you avoid the leeches.

44 - north (157) or south (398)

Keep going south, we're almost there.

398 - leave (314), spell (191) or attack (120)

Attack and you fight two wolves (skill 7 stamina 6 and skill 6 stamina 6) followed by the master himself (skill 11 stamina 10). If you missed the frog amulet, you'll need to kill him if you want to win.

A fear spell causes him to run away, you fight the wolves but don't get his amulet.

The curse spell knocks 2 off his skill and stamina. Your call if this is worth the 1d6 stamina loss.

A fire spell just causes him to break your arm, costing you 3 skill and 1 luck.

If you have the frog amulet, just leave. You don't need to worry about this clown.

314 - north (90) or east (195)

1 more east and we're clear.

195 - step (58) or jump (91)

Stepping carefully is a luck test to avoid 1 damage. Jumping is 2 dice against your stamina. Failing costs you 1 skill but we're done here, we don't need skill anymore.

91 - west (398), east (105) or south (208)

South!

208 - We're out of the swamp!

159 - We were hired by Grimslade.

226 - 0 (54), 1-2 (7) or 3+ (194)

If you didn't manage to find any amulets, man you really suck. Grimslade thinks so too. Fail a luck test and he cuts your stamina in half and attacks. At skill 13 stamina 18, you probably don't want this. (though a curse spell kills him instantly)

If you pass the luck test, you get the option to leave without fighting him.

At 1 or 2 amulets, he offers you 250 gold pieces. If you take it, you realise he's cheated you. you can go back and kill him or just accept what you have. If you decline it, he counts out the money and you leave with a guilt trip ending.

Of course, to really count as winning, you need 3 or more.

194 - hand them over (99) or money first (207)

If you hand them over, he cheats you and you can either accept your lower pay or go back and kill him.

If you demand the money first, you get full pay and of course, a guilt trip ending.

207 - 500 gold pieces per amulet, nice.

358 - You win, whether Steve likes it or not.

The evil quest may be the hardest and have the worst ending, but the mission itself is definitely the most fun of the three.

#8c Guide for Scorpion Swamp - evil mission