Team 5: Ben, James, Alan and Nathan from Salisbury.
The fifth quest of Series 6 was for the Crown and lasted 55 minutes.
Level 1
The team chooses the Crown. Ben emerges from the dwarf tunnels into the ruins of Dungarth - not seen since Series 4 (1990).
Spyglass: Lord Fear has Sidriss under an enchantment to make her fall deeply in love with Sylvester Hands.
Lord Fear: "I must be a powerful magician to make somebody fancy you, Hands. That's almost beyond the bounds of decent magic."
More series plot information: Lord Fear instructs Skarkill to find a red dragon, a move clearly designed to inflict major collateral damage.
Level 1 clue room. The clues are: a bar of gold, a bar of silver, a rope, and a horn. The scroll reads: "Gold to the East, Silver to the West".
They take the gold and the horn, before being chased by a pooka.
Into Wolfenden Centre, where Ah Wok and Julius Scaramonger are still competing for business.
Scaramonger tries to sell them a password to Level 1. Ben follows the advice from the scroll and buys a 'True Sight' potion from Ah Wok.
Ridolfo rescues them from yet another pooka, promising to turn it in linguine.
Ben uses Sidriss-gate as useful gossip to gain the password.
Ridlofo: "Scandal - I love it!"
A forest clearing, where Sidriss is fawning over one of Hands's smocks. (Yuck!)
Ben poses as a messenger from Hands and convinces her to drink the 'True Sight' potion.
Free of the enchantment, she turns on Hands and he scarpers.
The team earns the causeway code in return.
They tackle the causeway with skill. Some very tight margins!
This takes them to the gateway. Smirkenorff takes them to Level 2 without a fare.
Level 2
A castle courtyard. There are just two clues for Level 2: a signet ring and a jar containing a pooka.
The scroll contains a spell: BACKFIRE.
Pickle expresses concern about the possibility that Lord Fear is importing a red dragon into the dungeon.
Spyglass: Skarkill is whimpering about the red dragon. Lord Fear cannot be bothered to listen.
Lord Fear: "Of course it's homicidal! Why else do you think I wanted one?"
He tells Skarkill to lock the back door and not to surrender the key under any circumstances.
As Ben exits, Lord Fear's hand reaches down for him.
In Witch Haven, Ben is struck by one of Peggatty fireballs. James begins to spell-cast BACKFIRE (quite reasonably) but is stopped in his tracks. Ben runs for the door.
In a lavish chamber, Ben finds Greystagg, Queen of the Grey Sisters. She commends him for surviving Peggatty's onslaught.
Greystagg orders Ben to abandon the spell BACKFIRE, which will destroy him.
The team agree to give her the ring in exchange for knowledge that will allow them to harness the power of their other magic object - the pooka inside the jar.
This one is called Puck. The knowing of its true name gives you the power to command it...
In the next chamber, a scroll reads: "Don't be odd".
Skarkill and his goblins appear. Ben summons Puck to scare him off, then demands the key.
They cross the causeway by even numbers, and arrive at the back door to Level 3.
The key opens the door to the descender.
Level 3
Dwarf tunnels, where some sort of gremlin jumps out at them!
The Level 3 clue room. The clues are: a bar of gold, a crucifix, a rope, and a gauntlet. The scroll reads: "Sea journeys are healthy. Don't forget the fare."
Spyglass: Skarkill and the goblins are threatening to strike unless they get paid waiting time.
Fear rejects the request and insists that the opposition will now pay by results. He says the Great Causeway will be more challenging than his henchmen.
Ben takes the gold and the cross.
They reach the Cloudwalker, when we meet Captain Nemanor in person for the first time.
Ben offers him the gold. Nemanor explains that he is also looking for an object and is unable to retrieve it.
Captain Nemanor: "This ship is cursed never to find land, and I am cursed never to leave it. The object I seek is a navigational instrument - an astrolabe..."
If they retrieve it for him from Ariadne, he promises to deliver them to the last dungeon.
Below decks, they enter the hatch.
Araidne's lair. The ceiling is covered by a web. Ben finds the astrolabe and a scroll, which reads '2, 3, ???'.
The giant spider strides over the web. With view obscured, the team still escapes promptly.
They return to the ship where Nemanor is delighted to see the astrolabe.
Nemanor: "To the mines of Gore and the last dungeon. Spellcasting, WIND."
Continued on Series 6 Winners.
Hear from the team
In January 2004, advisor Nathan posted on the forum:
I believe we were the only team to recieve 4 trophies - the others were all handed back to use after. It has actually been on display and is greatly admired by all, even those that didn't see the series.
