CLASSIC QUEST
Series 2
Quest: The Shield.
Dungeoneer: Claire Tisdale.
Advisors: Kerry, Michelle and Cheryl.
Home town: Ludlow, Shropshire.
Team score: 3 out of 10.
This was the first all-girl team ever to appear on Knightmare. If the standard of the performance they put in is anything to go by, it’s small wonder that it took seven years to find a female champion! (No offence, girls!)
Level One: After pulling the lever at the Wheel of Fate, the team is faced with a choice of four doors. The symbols on offer are a skull, an eye, a fire exit and a knight chessman. As this is not exactly a difficult challenge, Claire is guided through the knight’s door. In the clue room, Igneous is on guard. With all three of the wall monster’s questions answered correctly, Claire earns the password for level one (feldspar) and an elimination clue for the objects. Treguard’s help is still required, however, to guide Claire into taking a string of pearls and a key from the table, leaving behind a metal cup, which apparently has a bitter taste to it. A brush with the Lion’s Head and the Lasers sees Claire demonstrating her complete inability to walk in a straight line, and the challenge consequently takes unnecessarily long.
A quick stroll past a green monster that is breathing heavily leads to Lillith’s domain. Lillith tries to trick Claire into walking over the edge of the pit, but the advisors are having none of it. Lillith eventually creates a bridge and allows Claire to cross, accepting the pearls as payment. She rewards the team with the spell LITTLE.
”For this LITTLE trinket, I will provide you with a LITTLE spell, and since you are intelligent enough to have come this LITTLE far into the Dungeon, you should know what that means!” – Lillith.
On a rocky ledge, Claire picks up an apple to restore her life force. She then goes on to meet the Troll, who announces his intentions to eat her. With heavy prompting from Treguard, the team cast LITTLE, shrinking the Troll so that he disappears out of sight. The wellway room follows, where Gumboil is on guard. Claire is able to give him the password, so she is allowed to descend to the second level.
Level Two: The team’s fate is sealed in the first chamber. Cedric (named here for the first time) is on guard, and poses his usual three riddles. With only one answered correctly, Claire is allowed to proceed, but without any help from the mad monk. There follows a quick escape from Ariadne, in the spider’s first of many memorable appearances, and then Claire arrives in the clue room. Several objects are waiting on the table, including Casper by the look of things, but a cavernwraith is on guard. Without Cedric’s magic to defeat the ghostly creature, Claire is doomed. The cavernwraith drifts towards her and drains her life force, bringing an all-too timely end to the quest.
Summary: An absolutely hopeless team who had no chance of winning – not much up top, very boring to watch, and the dungeoneer couldn’t even walk in a straight line!