Let's Play Lone Wolf

[pi4t 6]

376

Forty paces along the street is a barracks, a long whitewashed

building with ugly square windows. A soldier sits dozing in the evening

sun with his spear resting across his lap. Some children are tossing

hollowed-out larnuma fruits at him, trying to catch them upon the tip of

his spear. Opposite the barracks is a tavern with a line of saddled

douggas tied to a rail near the main door. The braying of these

sand-horses rivals the sound of revelry drifting from the tavern door.

If you wish to enter the tavern, turn to 351.

If you wish to continue along the street towards the Dougga Market, turn to 202.

 

 

 

To market, to market, to buy a fat dougga?

[hammer01 29]

to the market..

[Richi 0]

I will join on this adventure, and I choose to go to the market!

[CowsGoMoo 267]

Fat douggas.

So then we can eat it if we were to ever run out of food.

[pi4t 6]

Hi Richi! Good to see a new face!

 

Also, you stole my avatar :)

 

202

You pass under an arch where two brass-gilded, conical towers gleam
like gold and enter a marketplace crowded with squabbling merchants.
Exotic carpets, brightly coloured material, and all manner of foods are
being bought, sold, and haggled over. The north side of the marketplace
is devoted to the auction of douggas. The sleek but noisy desert beasts
are being paraded, for the benefit of the bidders, around a paddock
adjoining their stables. Just past the stables, a street vanishes into
the Carpet-weavers’ Quarter of Ikaresh.

If you wish to investigate the stables, turn to 309.

If you wish to ask one of the merchants if they know where Tipasa lives, turn to 248.

If you wish to leave the marketplace, continue along the adjoining street and turn to 386.

 

Tipasa? Where are you? Our directions from the evil assassin friendly householder have run out...

[hammer01 29]

Ask for tipasa!

[CowsGoMoo 267]

Asky asky ask!

[Richi 0]

Ask away!

[pi4t 6]

248


A small, heavy-set merchant is hawking his wares from a stall set
close to the archway. His small, beady eyes twinkle from beneath a
ridiculously outsized turban. As you approach, he launches himself at
you, desperately trying, with a flood of wild claims, to persuade you to
buy his obviously inferior goods. He looks surprised when you interrupt
him with your question. ‘Tipasa?’ he answers. ‘Yes, I know where he
lives.’

He holds up a gaudy waistcoat of pink and orange sackcloth and offers
it to you. ‘It would make a worthy gift for your esteemed friend,’ he
suggests, his eyes continually glancing at your Belt Pouch. ‘Only 5 Gold
Crowns, master.’

You realize you will first have to purchase this ridiculous garment before the merchant will tell you where Tipasa lives.

If you wish to buy the waistcoat, pay the man 5 Gold Crowns and turn to 328.

If you do not want to buy the waistcoat or cannot afford to pay him 5 Gold Crowns, turn to 274.

Well, we can afford it, but can we live with the embarrassment? On the plus side, if we wore it, then no one would think we were Lone Wolf trying to keep a low profile!

[CowsGoMoo 267]

Screw him.

I ain't givin' NO ONE 5 gold crowns. Especially a jerk of a person who wants us to PAY him for directions.

NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

Slap his face, and decline the offer. THE GREAT LONE WOLF does what he WANTS.

[Richi 0]

Deny him with the power of Judgement! Lone Wolf can find Tipasa himself! Not a challenge! 

[pi4t 6]

274

Banedon holds a gleaming ring of silver beneath the merchant’s nose

and says, ‘This is yours, my friend, if you tell us were Tipasa can be

found.’

The merchant snatches the ring from the wizard’s hand and stammers,

‘The first alley on the left past the stables. He lives at the house

with the blue door.’

You hurry across the crowded marketplace towards the stables and

enter the street beyond. As you turn into the alley, you hear the

merchant’s shriek of dismay above the noise of the crowd; the ring has

just dissolved on his finger. At the end of the alley you find the house

with the blue door.

Turn to 206.

 

Have 5 dissolved crowns from us, too!

 

206

There is no reply to your first knock. You are about to knock again

when the door opens a few inches and the red-rimmed eyes of an old woman

stare out from the darkness. ‘Banedon!’ she exclaims, her voice hoarse

and shaky. ‘Thank the gods it is you.’

She ushers you both inside and locks the door. The house is sparsely

furnished, and what little is there is either damaged or broken. ‘They

have taken him, Banedon, they have taken my husband—the men with the

faces of the dead. Ten days ago. They came like shadows in the night.’

She breaks down, her frail body wracked by sobs. Banedon comforts her

as best he can, but you sense he shares her bitter loss. The Drakkarim

have taken Tipasa, of that there is little doubt. By now they will have

made him tell everything he knows about the Tomb of the Majhan.

‘We will find him, I promise,’ says Banedon, wiping the tears from

the old woman’s face, ‘but you must try to help us if you can. Tipasa

always kept a diary of his travels—do you have it still?’

A flicker of hope shines in the old woman’s eyes. ‘Yes, it is here. He told me to hide it when the evil men came for him.’

She kneels at an empty fireplace and prises a loose brick from the

chimney; a leather-bound book drops from its hiding place into her hand.

She gives it to Banedon who studies the yellowed pages, his face lined

in thought. You notice that the book is full of cryptic symbols,

numbers, and pictograms.

‘They are drawn by the night stars,’ says Banedon, tracing his finger

along the astronomical drawings. ‘They hold the secret, I know, but

without my star charts we cannot hope to find the tomb. We must return

to the Skyrider at first light. There I shall be able to make some sense of this book.’

               

Turn to 331.

 

Well, we've got the book, but we should probably find Tipasa.

 

I hope he's not dead.

 

331

You have little sleep that night as you lie thinking about the quest

that lies before you, haunted by the fear that the Darklords may already

have found the Book of the Magnakai.

You rise before dawn and breakfast on a meal of sheep’s butter and

dried milk cake, before bidding farewell to Tipasa’s wife. The trek back

to the Skyrider passes uneventfully, and by noon you have

reached the rocky crag where the craft is moored. Nolrim is the first to

greet you, but he cannot hide his disappointment that you have returned

unaccompanied.

‘Do not worry—the answer lies here,’ says Banedon, holding up Tipasa’s diary. ‘Prepare to set sail.’

As the Skyrider rises into the clear blue sky, Banedon

hands over the helm to Nolrim and bids you follow him to his quarters at

the prow. For three hours he pores over his charts, making

calculations, checking instrument readings, and racking his brain for

the solution that will pinpoint the Tomb of the Majhan.

‘It’s no use,’ he says, tired and exasperated. ‘I cannot fathom these numbers.’

As you peer at the pages of Tipasa’s diary, suddenly you realize that

they are written in code. What Banedon had assumed to be positions of

stars is a code to three numbers that give the precise location of the

Tomb.

Consult the map to help you discover the location of the Tomb of the Majhan.

The first of the three numbers is equal to the number of oases on the

trail between Ikaresh and Bir Rabalou. The second number is equal to

the number of cities in Vassagonia. The third number is equal to the

number of islands off the coast of Cape Kabar.

When you have broken the code, write the numbers in order and turn to the entry number that they indicate.

 

A puzzle! The first one in the series, really. And...I should probably add that the illustrator forgot to put a flag on a city, probably Kuchek. Here's the map. On which section is the tomb located?

 

[CowsGoMoo 267]

Aw man. Lone Wolf ain't got no time for this.

 

 

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. IF he hollers let him go... Eeny, meeny, miny, mo!

 

RANDOM NUMBER TIME!

3

5

4

Through the use of my amazing guessing skills!

[pi4t 6]

What was that? 373, did you say? Congratulations, your guessing skills were correct! ;)

 

373

‘That’s it!’ exclaims Banedon, stabbing his finger at a map of the
Dry Main that covers his chart table. ‘One hundred and fifteen miles due
west of Bir Rabalou; one hundred and fifteen miles due south of the
oasis of Bal-loftan.’ He picks up a quill pen and marks the spot. ‘The
Tomb of the Majhan.

You study the map and ponder the miles of desolation separating you
from your goal. Banedon notices your look of dismay and quickly tries to
put your mind at ease.

‘Fear not, Lone Wolf—we’ll be there before the dawn.’

You smile at his confidence, but it is not the actual journey that
worries you—your concern is what you may or may not find upon your
arrival.

Turn to 320.

 

Hooray, we found it!

 

320

Dawn is breaking on the horizon of a low hill, blurred and dotted with small tufted trees. Swiftly the Skyrider
has voyaged through the night to arrive at the foothills of the Koneshi
Mountains, in whose folds the skyship is safely tucked away from
watchful eyes. Twenty-five miles to the north, across a landscape of
barren rock and dry brush, lies the Tomb of the Majhan.

 

               

You and Banedon set off before the dawn, anxious not to waste either
time or the protective cover of darkness. Now, as the great golden disc
of the sun rises in the sky, for the first time you can see your goal. A
massive excavation has exposed the heart of this scorched land, delving
deep around the tombs of its forgotten ancestors. Thousands of Giaks,
spiteful and malicious servants of the Darklords, labour unceasingly to
remove rock and sand from this quarry, forced by Drakkarim to drag their
backbreaking loads up ramps to the rim of the crater.

Close to the edge of the crater, an encampment of black tents
surrounds a large domed canopy. Lying in the shade of this construction
is a huge flying creature—an Imperial Zlanbeast. Its presence here can
only mean one thing: Darklord Haakon has arrived. The thought chills
your blood, but you draw comfort from the labour of his slaves. That
they continue to labour is a sign that their mission has yet to be
completed: the Book of the Magnakai has yet to be found.

It is impossible to approach the crater unseen; you will have to wait
for darkness before you attempt to enter the Tomb. During the long
wait, it is agreed that Banedon should attempt to find Tipasa. It is
likely that he is being held captive inside the encampment—the Darklords
would be unlikely to kill him before discovering the treasure they
seek.

During the day, you must eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE
points. (You may not use Hunting if required to eat a Meal in the
middle of this wasteland.) Make the necessary adjustments to your Action Chart.

Turn to 286.

 

We eat a meal.

 

286

As night falls, your desperate quest begins. The Giaks pose few
problems that you cannot overcome with your warrior skills, for they
have been overworked to the point of exhaustion. Only the Drakkarim show
any sign of vigilance, but even then, there are less than a dozen
patrolling the entire crater. Not until you reach the main entrance to
the Tomb do you encounter any real difficulty.

A Drakkar stands on guard, his cruel eyes glinting behind his twisted
iron death-mask. Occasionally, he diverts his attention from the watch
to take a drink from a water flask.

If you have the Kai Discipline of Mind Over Matter, turn to 214.

If you do not have this skill, turn to 239.

 

Of course we do!

 

214

You focus your skill on a nearby spade, willing the spade handle to
rattle against the wheelbarrow in which it rests. It only takes a few
seconds for the vigilant Drakkarim sentry to leave his post and
investigate the noise. By the time he returns, you are inside the Tomb
of the Majhan.

Turn to 395.

 

And we avoid the sentry in perhaps the most stereotypically magic way possible.

 

395

As far as the eye can see, a long, straight, sandstone corridor
slopes away into the distance. Torches crackle and sputter on the walls,
illuminating the pictograms engraved in the yellow stone.

At regular intervals, rough-edged slabs protrude into the main
corridor. You stop to take a close look at one of these slabs and the
floor beneath it and come to a frightening conclusion. They are
obviously traps, no doubt set off by the Giaks when they cleared this
corridor of sand. Rather than instructing the Giaks to avoid them, the
Darklords must have deliberately used their slaves to set them off. Once
the traps had been sprung, the squashed bodies were cleared away and
the slabs chiselled through to the next section. Pit traps in the floors
seem to have been neutralized in the same way. Set off by luckless
Giaks, they would have been filled in with the dead bodies and levelled
off with sand. The thought of this heartless barbarity fills you with
revulsion.

Just over a mile along the corridor, you eventually arrive at a large
stone door. The stone surround bears evidence of chisel-work, but the
door itself is rock solid.

You notice a faint beam of light descending from a hole in the
ceiling. It creates a small circular pool of light, a little to one side
of a similar hole in the floor. In the wall near to the door there is a
triangular indentation, no larger than a Gold Crown.

If you possess a Prism, turn to 233.

If you possess a Blue Stone Triangle, turn to 245.

If you have neither of these items, turn to 298.

 

Er...you know how we got rid of that blue stone triangle...? That may have been a mistake.

 

298

You are trying to decide whether to try prising open the door, when
you hear the sound of stone grating on stone. The door slowly opens to
reveal a large chamber. It is dimly lit, but in the thick dust which
covers the marble floor you can see innumerable footprints.

Then, as you enter, you catch sight of a rough stone throne, facing
the wall on the far side of the chamber. Behind you, the stone door
slides shut with unnerving speed.

Turn to 289.

 

Well, we're in, anyway.

 

289

The throne begins to revolve. A terrible howling fills your ears,
changing almost instantaneously to the growling of a harsh guttural
language, the like of which you have never heard before. Words and
sounds that the mouths of men could never be shaped to speak roll
through the chamber like thunder. It is the dark tongue, spoken by
Haakon, Lord of Aarnak, Darklord of Helgedad.

He rises from the throne, the ghastly voice still echoing from his
unnatural mouth. A spiked fist opens to reveal a glowing stone; blue
flame smoulders around its surface, and you can feel the currents of
power that radiate from its core. Suddenly, his words change and you
hear a tongue you know so well—Sommlending.

‘Look on your doom, Kai Lord!’

There is a deafening crack, a surge of power, and a fireball of blue flame hurtles towards your head.

If you possess the Sommerswerd, turn to 311.

If you do not have this Special Item, turn to 219.

 

Darklord, darklord, run!!

 

On the other hand, given that it's a known power of the Sommerswerd to absorb magic attacks against us, I'm not sure where we're supposed to be looking...

 

311

You raise your golden sword just in time to deflect the bolt of raw
energy. It screams from your blade and explodes into the chamber wall,
gouging a hole several feet deep in the steel-hard rock. The impact jars
the Sommerswerd from your hand; the blade arcs through the dust-choked
air and embeds itself, upright, in the stone floor. You roll across the
floor and take cover behind a pillar.

‘Your doom, Kai Lord,’ spits Haakon, ‘is but seconds away.’

If you wish to retrieve the Sommerswerd, turn to 278.

If you wish to try to move to a new hiding place, under cover of the swirling dust, turn to 350.

If you wish to stay where you are, turn to 230.

 

Not...good. Try to recover our ultimate-weapon-which-can-incidentally-absorb-Haakon's-evil-blue-fireballs by exposing ourselves to evil-blue-fireballs, or stay hidden?

 

Also, I think I found that doom he wanted us to look at...

[Richi 0]

Take the sword! We can do it! Rush in there and deflect any more fireballs!