Dawn of the Dragons (27 page)
You make your way across this busy square and enter Ladder Way, a thoroughfare which heads towards the very heart of Varetta. Apothecaries and candle-makers' shops flank this wide street until it opens up on an ornate park filled with rare and beautiful flowers.
To the west of the park you notice a fortified tower, by far the tallest in the city. You feel inexplicably drawn towards this tower; it is as if it possesses the solution to all your problems. You leave the park by its west gate and enter a wider thoroughfare called Brass Street. Here you see the courtyard entrance to a grand building whose brick and marble façade is adorned with the words ‘Halls of Learning’.
You enter and ride along a gravelled path which leads to a building where a sign, hanging over its richly-carved oak door, simply says ‘Library’. You feel compelled to stop here and, without quite knowing why, you dismount from your horse and tie his reins to a ring which is set into the wall. Then you push open the door and enter the library's cool interior.
Countless thousands of books and parchments crowd the stone shelves of this magnificent library. Your eyes travel along them until they reach another door at the far end of the hall. There, standing framed in its archway, is an old man clad in plain brown robes. He looks at you and smiles knowingly.
‘Welcome, Grand Master,’ he says. ‘I have been expecting you.’
If you have ever visited a hut on Raider's Road, the city of Tahou, or Lake Vorndarol (in previous
Lone Wolf
adventures),
turn to 348
.
If you have never visited any of these places,
turn to 184
.
When you sense that the poison gas has dissipated and the air is no longer perilous to breathe, you enter the cell and take one last look at the prisoner's body. The man's face and upper body have been horribly disfigured by the effects of the gas, yet the extensive blistering has only partially destroyed a small tattoo on the side of his neck. It is a six-pointed star which you recognize to be the national symbol of Eldenora.
‘He must have died within seconds of biting into the poisoned pellet,’ says Nathor. ‘It chills me to think that whoever sent him here commanded such respect from this man that he chose to die in this way rather than face the consequences of failing his mission.’
‘Aye, and if there are others like him who are out to stop me,’ you reply, uneasily, ‘then my journey home to Sommerlund may prove more difficult than I expected.’
As you fall backwards into the cold water, a splinter of rock slices through your upper left arm: lose 4
ENDURANCE
points.
Gritting your teeth against the stinging pain, you struggle to your feet and use your Kai healing skills to staunch the bleeding. The dust of the explosion is clearing and you can see D'Val bringing the regiment forward.
‘Are you badly injured, Grand Master?’ he shouts, as he comes riding through the water.
‘I'll live,’ you retort, and hurry to remount your skittish horse.
‘Thank Ishir you're with us,’ says the captain, as together you return to the regiment and lead them across the ford. ‘Without you, this wicked sorcery would have cost us dear.’
Moments before you reach him, he throws the young woman and her child to the ground and spins around to face you, his dagger held poised to slash at your throat. He strikes and you dodge his first clumsy blow with ease. As he is about to strike out for a second time, you raise your weapon and aim a scything blow at his head.
Eldenoran Thug (drunk):
COMBAT SKILL
34
ENDURANCE
34
If you win this combat,
turn to 333
.
You sense your psychic powers burrowing through Naar's ethereal barrier. You have almost penetrated this shield when suddenly you feel the presence of the Dark God himself; he is pouring the essence of his Evil into the breach, repairing the damage you have inflicted.
Immediately you cease your telegnosis for fear of allowing Naar the opportunity of locating and attacking your Mindforce. If he were to do so, you would risk losing not only your sanity but also your soul! You succeed in severing the telepathic link, but the abrupt cessation leaves you in psychic shock: lose 5
ENDURANCE
points.
To continue,
turn to 136
.
You are woken by the clammy sensation of fine cold spray on your face. Reluctantly you prise open your sleep-clogged eyes and see that the sky above is uniformly grey, swaddled by a thick blanket of cloud. A fine drizzle is sweeping down across the plateau, but the darkening clouds above indicate that this is merely the prelude to heavier rain.
Sure enough, within the hour you find yourself trekking north through a torrential downpour. The heavy rain makes the going difficult, but you take some comfort in the fact that it will lessen the odds of a chance encounter with an Eldenoran patrol.
Later in the day you come to a ridge which overlooks a sizeable town positioned at the centre of a wide valley. A glance at your
map
confirms your suspicion that this town is Oredal, and, when you magnify your vision, you see that it is swarming with Eldenoran troops and horsemen. You decide to give this town a wide berth and you stay in the hills to avoid the risk of being detected. For two days you live off the land as you make your way steadily northwards. Despite the bad weather, and having to go on foot, you make excellent progress. On the morning of the third day you come to a wood overlooking a small village called Nursha, which sits astride the main Rioma road. In the centre of this town there is a junction where another wide road branches off to the east. A large signpost at the junction says ‘Abisko — 40 miles’.
From the dry shelter of the wood you observe the town for nearly an hour, but you detect no movement there whatsoever: the place appears to be completely deserted.
If you possess the Disciplines of Deliverance and Grand Pathsmanship,
turn to 169
.
If you do not possess
both
of these Grand Master Disciplines,
turn to 212
.
The Lavas turn in mid-air and circle around the place where you lie. They have seen you and are getting ready to attack you with their fearsome claws. As they swoop down, you unsheathe your weapon and spring to your feet, determined to fight them off.
Lavas Sky Patrol:
COMBAT SKILL
55
ENDURANCE
50
If you win this combat,
turn to 346
.
You leave Kalma and ride due east along a dusty track. Mile after mile of featureless grassland passes by on either side until, late in the afternoon, you enter a range of gentle, wooded hills. You have not gone very far before you discover a stream of sparkling water that is teeming with trout. Feeling tired and hungry, you decide to rest here and try your luck at catching some fresh fish for your supper.
Within half an hour, you have collected six fine speckled specimens of Palmyrion trout, more than enough to sate your ravenous appetite. You are about to construct a small campfire on which to cook them when suddenly you hear the sound of a wagon and horses approaching along the hill track from the east. Rather than run the risk of being confronted by bandits, you take cover behind a bush and wait for the wagon to appear.
You raise your weapon before your face, dig your heels into the shifting soil, and pray to the Goddess Ishir to watch over you as the dragon gets ready to lash out with fang and claw.
If you possess the Sommerswerd,
turn to 98
.
If you do not possess this Special Item,
turn to 239
.
At first you are tempted to use your psychic Kai skills to influence this guard, to persuade him to lose interest in you and return to his pipe-smoking comrades seated outside the tent. But then you sense that they are not the only ones standing guard over this bridge. Beyond a nearby knoll you feel the presence of many horses and men: it is an Eldenoran cavalry encampment.
When you delay in showing the sallow-faced guard the identification that he wants to see, he becomes abusive and threatens to throw you in the river. To quieten his anger, you offer him a bribe. It is an offer which gains his undivided attention. He says that for 20 Gold Crowns he will let you across the bridge. If you do not possess sufficient money, this greedy guard will settle for half of the items in your Backpack plus one Special Item of your choice. Not wishing to have an entire Eldenoran cavalry regiment descend on you, you reluctantly agree to his extortionate terms.
Make the necessary adjustments to your
Action Chart
before
turning to 209
.
A steep path leads to a turreted gate which marks the entrance to this manor house. The house itself is barred and shuttered as if to withstand a siege. You ring a bell at the door but there is no reply. When you ring a second time, the shutters on an upstairs window creak open and the sneering face of a startlingly ugly woman peers down at you.
‘Whadya want?’ she snaps.
Illustration XVIII—‘Whadya want?’ snaps the ugly old woman.
‘A room for the night and feed for my horse, if you'd be so kind,’ you reply, as politely as you feel able. ‘I'd be prepared to pay, of course.’
The wart-faced old woman snorts and retreats from view. Moments later, she suddenly reappears and hurls a rotten cabbage which catches you squarely in the face (lose 1
ENDURANCE
point).
‘Be off, y' scraggin' Northlander,' she yells, 'afore I set the dogs on ya!’
Wiping a trickle of blood from your nose, you turn your horse about and ride back down the path, cursing the old woman under your breath. As you pass through the turreted gate, she shouts out: ‘I heard that!’
As soon as you rejoin the main road, you urge your horse to a canter and ride into the village that lies a little way beyond.
For an hour you ride across the rich grasslands of eastern Talestria until you come to a range of hills that are carpeted with scented spruce and pine. The road snakes its way through this ruggedly beautiful landscape to a place where a smaller track branches off the main trail, heading south. A huge boulder of red granite marks the start of this adjoining track, yet there is no signpost to indicate where it leads. Using your Kai tracking skills, you determine that the track has been used by men and horses during the last twenty-four hours.
If you wish to investigate the track,
turn to 118
.
If you choose to ignore it and continue along the main east road,
turn to 11
.
When you focus your Kai senses upon this device, you suddenly realize its true purpose: it detects light in the infrared spectrum. It is a means by which the Cener Druid can locate objects in the dark by the heat radiating from them. Many of the men, whose corpses now provide you with cover, were detected crossing the river this way.
Forewarned by your advanced mastery, you slip back into the water and allow the current to carry you a few hundred yards downstream. Here you discover a shallow bay in the river bank which affords you cover from the device, and also from the nearest enemy trench. Quickly you slither like a snake up the muddy bank and drop silently into this trench. A dull-witted Eldenoran is quickly dispatched with a blow from the edge of your hand, enabling you to move further along this log-walled ditch. Just as you are passing the opening to a makeshift dugout, you sense danger ahead. A single file of Eldenoran swordsmen is marching along the trench in your direction: it will only be a matter of seconds before they are close enough to see you.
If you wish to dive into the dugout to avoid being seen by these men,
turn to 185
.
If you choose to unsheathe your weapon and prepare for combat with this advancing file of troops,
turn to 57
.
You give thanks for your mastery of Nexus, for you sense that it is protecting your body from the extreme heat and toxic atmosphere of this hellish plane. However, your mastery alone is not sufficient to protect you from the creatures that are now advancing rapidly towards the Shadow Gate.
You bring your horse to a halt at the approach to the bridge and quickly recite the complex intonations of the Old Kingdom Spell
Power Glyph
. For a brief moment, a faint shimmering light dances on the pitted surfaces of the first two statues, indicating that the spell has been successfully activated. An invisible barrier is now in place across the entrance to the bridge; anything passing through this barrier will trigger a massive discharge of magical energy.
You canter your horse across the river and wait on the far side as the first few wolf-creatures come racing towards the bridge. The pack leader, a massive brute with ghastly yellow eyes, breaks the invisible barrier and, amidst a crackling flash of sparks, he is flung high into the air like a soaring meteor, his black fur and tail blazing fiercely.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
.
If the number you have picked is 0–3,
turn to 115
.
If it is 4 or higher,
turn to 32
.