Series 4 Episode 3

[Malefact]

I wonder if BUT would have caused Mogdred to say something like "but, then again, perhaps I shall observe your fear a little longer!" and retract the sword, before leaving.

[AriadnesLayer]

I haven't seen the full quest, just the clip on the site, but this has always bugged me.

The death caused by choosing a spell that took too long to spell out was, in my opinion, extremely unfair.

It had never been done before (or since), and unlike other advice such as "choose the right hand path", it was never told to teams. So how on earth could they have known that the length of a spell was a factor to be taken into consideration?

It's certainly not something that would ever occur to me if I had been in their shoes.

...Especially as in countless other quests, villains who are about exact death upon a dungeoneer noticably stand by and WAIT for the dungeoneer to cast the spell.

Furthermore, the team in S5 who defeated Aesandre found themselves in an almost identical situation, and had two spells - FIRE and FREEZE - to choose from as Aesandre towered before them about to unleash her wrath. THEY chose the longer spell, but weren't punished because of it (and let's remember that with TRANSFORMATION and BUT, the team had specifically been told that the first was the powerful spell, and the latter was not). What if the series 5 team had chosen FIRE, and died, but then complained to Tim Child that they were only following the example set by the show, of choosing the shorter spell?

My complaint is, how on earth is anyone, let alone a small child, supposed to know when ambiguous rules like this come into play, and when they don't?

[Drassil]

Making comparisons between different quests in different series is sometimes unfair. 'FIRE or FREEZE?' was not a length-based puzzle; it was about the team remembering Hordriss' clues (one spell frees the quest object, the other defeats Aesandre - rather a giveaway, since compared to burning, how likely would freezing be to release anything?) and not being deceived by Aesandre's metaphor ("fight fire with fire"). And with FREEZE being only two letters longer than FIRE, length isn't really an issue in my opinion.

However, making comparisons between different quests in the same series is often less unfair, and here, as they say, is one I made earlier:

The spell choice facing Dickon's team a few quests later - FIRE or OPPOSITE against Malice - was arguably more straightforward.

In short, I agree that Helen's team seemed to get a raw deal in the harshness of their Final Encounter. But for all we know, there were other behind-the-scenes factors involved that made it justified and 'balanced things out'. For example, bear in mind that Helen's team got all the way to the Final Encounter without facing either the Transporter Pad puzzle or the Corridor of Blades, both of which Dickon's team had to negotiate.

[HStorm]

It might have been fairer had the effects of the BUT spell been made clear beforehand; we can still only speculate even today on exactly what it was meant to do. Had the team been informed, it might have given them a clue. In the event, the only clue they got was that TRANSFORMATION was more powerful, so it stands to reason that they plumped for it in confrontation with the arch-super-villain of the entire Dungeon.

Alternatively, maybe they could have been allowed to find a scroll with a cryptic clue on it in the bridge cavern, just before Mogdred first appeared? "The best spells come in small packages" for instance.

villains who are about to exact death upon a dungeoneer noticeably stand by and WAIT for the dungeoneer to cast the spell.

That was probably the worst way in which the series would, in effect, break the fourth wall, especially given how frequently it would happen, and how static the action would become. In that respect at least, Helen's death-scene is rather refreshing. But it was still very unfair.

[sozboz]

They were in thrall to his Mogredian dark charisma. That is, they were just slow on the draw - they should have been getting ready to spellcast as soon as they saw him and that sword ( a bit slow on the crumbling walkway just before too). Obviously that's easy to say watching it back.

It was tough but I think it was necessary to protect the main villain, and to preserve the mystique of 'level 3'. As the show's top enemy it would have compromised his character and by extension the programme to let him be defeated too easily whereas by contrast giving him a really harsh kill like this it makes him look like a real bad ass. Ideally the young audience are watching with suspended disbelief and are left with the impression 'wow, Mogdred doesn't mess around - he'is really hard to beat' rather than 'wow, the producers are gits who won't let anyone win'.

The team's chance to decide what to do may have been when he was making his big speech about how he was going to kill them, but Woodnut is so awesome in the role they could only watch and listen.

[knightmaredave]

I do believe this was a very unfair death but think they died for 2 reasons.
1. if u saw mogdred would you wait to cast a spell oif he turned up in person especially with the old flashing sword appearing.
2. Team onhe always had it quite hard, so who knows first teamd bad luck i suppose

[123Pooka]

I wonder, if the shorter spell had been made more obvious that it was defensive, would that have made a difference to their choice? Suppose it was 'block' or 'shield'. I think 'but' was pretty cryptic and the team went for something which they felt they could apply more easily to the situation. BUT, haha , I guess then there is the issue that the choice is made far too easy.

HStorm is probably about right with the scroll idea. My idea would be to produce a paradoxical clue - say for example: 'You could transform yourself later but wait a little while first' or words to that effect. Then it's still a difficult level 3 spell choice but the emphasis on 'but', if paid attention to, would allow them to use BUT on mogdred and then choose to use transformation later on in the level .

To sum up my thoughts, I think that although they were ill fated by bad luck, they might have got the blades afterwards - and would she have been lucky to survive that, especially as it would have been their first appearance.

[Pooka]

I would have tried to cast TRANSFORMATION - I mean, a clear final encounter with the main 'baddie', what would you have done?

[Mystara]

My instinct would also have been to go for the longer transformation spell. Same logic - you want to use the powerful spell on the powerful opponent.

That said, when the spells were given, I remember thinking "But...as in "but" or as in the "butt" of a sword?"

It seems unfair, given that they weren't really given any clue. But perhaps the dev team made a mistake? I mean, if they hadn't prepared a response to "transformation" being cast, they were buggered. Even if they had a suitable response ready and the "transformation" spell was needed later on then they would only be prolonging the life of the team so they could die later on.

As always, we just don't know what was cut or what was planned. Maybe the dev team was upset with them. Maybe the players needed to go home in an emergency...maybe they did something utterly stupid that we didn't get to see. The only thing we know is the explanation of the death seems unfair

[FaveWorstKnightmare]

I hereby request to the Court Of Knightmare that the death of Helen be reviewed upon appeal and that she should be posthumously excused.

The Defence has just rewatched the evidence of the episode on youtube and presents the following case:

The team were given two spells by a Mr. Hordriss The Confuser, namely Transformation and But, and the crucial point in the Defendant's case is this:
The Transformation spell was descibed as "most powerful" and the But spell as "quite humble".

When Helen was then faced with the arch villain of the piece, a Mr. Mogdred, a spectral sword was hurled towards them. Helen's advisors naturally called upon the "most powerful" spell of Transormation. Nevertheless, they were killed by the sword, the aforementioned Mr. Mogdred stating the words "too slow, too slow". Following the killing, the Dungeon Master, a Mister Treguard, told Helen's advisors "Too long team, your magic was too long. What you needed here was the shorter spell".

However, at no point in their quest were this team given any kind of clue that the But spell was the spell they should have used. The Prosection's case of the death being justified on account of slow spellcasting does not stand up, on the basis that they were poorly advised by Mr. Hordiss The Confuser.

I rest my case.

[Canadanne]

If we had a forum medal for brilliant individual posts, I would nominate the above!

[FaveWorstKnightmare]

Thanks Canadanne, however no personal glory necessary. I just wish to see justice finally prevail for innocent Dungeoneers after all these years. After all, they were wearing the Helmet Of Justica at the time.

[Strike]

Just watched episode 3 but will rematch just to catch graffiti on wall.