Shadow on the Sand (12 page)
You press yourself against the weathered stone and try to avoid looking down at the courtyards and gardens of the palace, hundreds of feet below. You bite your lip and wait for the guards to pass, but they do not pass. It is nearly sunset, and they have come to shut the iron grilles of the palace windows. You hear the creak of dry hinges and the click of bolts — sounds that send a shiver down your spine. You realize that you are now locked out.
To your left, the ledge continues around outside of a dome; inside this is the mess hall. If you can only inch your way around the tower, you may be able to find an open window on the other side.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
. If you have the Kai Discipline of Hunting, add 2 to the number you have picked. If you have reached the Kai rank of Savant, you may add another 2.
If your total score is now 0–2,
turn to 5
.
If your total score is now 3–8,
turn to 38
.
If your total score is now 9–13,
turn to 87
.
Maouk orders his black-clad troops to search the area, threatening them with death if they allow you to escape. You bite your lip and wait for a chance to run.
Creeping from one boat to the next, you reach a narrow flight of stone steps. At the top of the steps, beyond a small paved square, lies a maze of crooked alleyways that disappear into the shadows of the Thieves' Quarter. You are less than twenty feet from safety when a cry echoes across the water: ‘There he is!’
You sprint along the deserted passage and climb a stairway into an open courtyard. The sound of hooves clattering on the cobblestones below urges you onwards. There are three possible exits from the courtyard: a high, nail-studded gate to the left; an alley to your right; and a straight, paved pathway that leads to an arch. You must make a quick decision for Maouk's men are close at your heels.
If you possess the Kai Discipline of Tracking,
turn to 42
.
If you wish to enter the gate,
turn to 75
.
If you wish to enter the alley,
turn to 117
.
If you decide to take the straight pathway through the arch,
turn to 169
.
You part the bead curtain that hangs across the doorway and enter the cool interior. The light is poor and the room gloomy, for the windows are obscured by sheaves of herbs and plants. You are studying a curious row of coloured bottles when a woman appears. She has piercing green eyes and her red hair is raised, bound with rings of jadin. Softly, she speaks to you.
‘Welcome, Northlander. I sense you are a warrior — or am I mistaken?’ As you hesitate to answer, she shrugs her shoulders and searches through a pile of parchments stacked on top of a wine casket. She blows away the dust before handing you a yellowed sheet. It is a list of merchandise, written in Sommlending:
- Potion of Alether (increases
COMBAT SKILL
by 2 for the duration of 1 combat) — 4 Gold Crowns - Potion of Gallowbrush (induces sleep for 1–2 hours per dose) — 2 Gold Crowns
- Potion of Laumspur (restores 4
ENDURANCE
points per dose) — 5 Gold Crowns - Vial of Larnuma Oil (restores 2
ENDURANCE
points per dose) — 3 Gold Crowns - Tincture of Graveweed (causes sickness and loss of 2
ENDURANCE
points per dose) — 1 Gold Crown - Tincture of Calacena (causes terrifying hallucinations for 1–2 hours per dose) — 2 Gold Crowns
You may purchase any of the above and in any quantity you desire; all potions, vials, and tinctures are Backpack Items. You then leave the shop and continue along the street.
From the view, you judge that this window is set high up in the south wall of the Grand Palace. Far below you can see the buildings of the capital, in miniature clusters inside the white city wall. To the southeast lies Lake Inrahim, an immense salt-water plain that is completely dry and cracked. To the east, a road stretches across the causeway to the town of Chula, just visible on the horizon. To the southwest lie the barren, sun-scorched Dahir Mountains and the shifting ocean of sand known as the Dry Main.
The bars of the window are badly corroded; it would be easy to dislodge them. However, the drop of several hundred feet to the city below means that there is no hope of escape this way. You climb down from the table and hurry along the corridor.
After concentrating on the lock for several minutes, you realize that it is connected to an alarm. If you turn the lock to the wrong number, the alarm will be triggered, alerting the entire palace guard.
If you possess the Kai Disciplines of Mind Over Matter and Sixth Sense,
turn to 8
.
If you do not have both of these skills,
turn to 98
.
The house smells strongly of burnt incense. You enter a narrow hallway lined with chairs and walk slowly along the central aisle towards a fountain, flanked by a pair of massive orange-red pillars. A man, dressed from head to toe in black, appears from behind the left-hand pillar and walks towards you.
Suddenly, you hear Maouk's men enter the plaza, and cast an anxious glance towards the open door. The man sees you are nervous and silently points to a cellar door.
If you wish to hide in the cellar,
turn to 16
.
If you wish to leave the hallway, return to the plaza by
turning to 99
.
You enter a gallery, which houses a beautiful mosaic. Thousands of tiny fragments of pearl and gold shimmer in the light of the evening sun, glancing rainbows of colour across the high marble walls. A group of palace courtiers ambles through the gallery, and you are forced to hide behind a huge pillar. You wait until their footsteps have faded into the distance before emerging into light.
All hope of signing a peace treaty has long vanished, and your only concern now is to escape from the Grand Palace and, somehow, return home to Sommerlund as quickly as possible. Hurrying out of the gallery, you follow the passage westwards and soon reach a junction where the passage turns abruptly to the north.
You batter your way through the door successfully, but having gathered momentum, you cannot stop, and fall headlong down a flight of stairs on the other side.
You landed in a heap on the hard marble floor of an antechamber, (you lose 2
ENDURANCE
points) barely a few feet away from an armed soldier, who is guarding the doors to the palace armoury. He is startled by your dramatic entrance but quickly regains his senses and attacks.
Armoury Guard:
COMBAT SKILL
16
ENDURANCE
22
Deduct 2 from your
COMBAT SKILL
for the first 3 rounds of combat, as you are lying on the ground. You cannot evade combat and must fight the guard to the death.
If you win,
turn to 52
.
Your desire to leave this treacherous city is overcome by your fear of losing your arm. You must get the Oede herb, even though it means you will have to enter the very place you are most anxious to avoid — the Grand Palace.
The alley follows a tortuous route through the
Mikarum
, finally leading you to the
‘Horm-tas-Lallaim’
: the Tomb of the Princesses. Beyond the tomb, the Grand Palace rises like a massive white pantheon.
You suddenly recall a legend told to you by your Kai masters long ago: ‘The Nemesis of the Black Zakhan’. The Black Zakhan was a brutal tyrant, the cruellest of an evil lineage that ruled over the desert empire long ago. The barbaric excesses of his reign have never been forgotten in the Lastlands. The Grand Palace was built by his army of slaves, prisoners from countries he had conquered in war. The palace became his obsession; he personally oversaw its entire construction and punished the workers personally if there was the slightest delay. He butchered his subjects indiscriminately and in the most terrible fashion. His favourite form of execution was for the victim to be sawn in half from head to foot until the body fell in two pieces. However, it was the mass execution of the slaves who built the Grand Palace that made him infamous. He slaughtered every slave worker so that his enemies could never learn of the secret treasure chambers he had had constructed. Among the slaves were his only daughters, Kebilla and Sousse, who openly opposed their father's cruelty and tried to prevent the executions. In a blind rage, he ordered that they should be the first to die.
It would have been better for the Zakhan, and for Vassagonia, if he himself had died that day. He lived for another two years, but his mind was unhinged by guilt, and he was tortured by self-loathing and despair. In the Grand Palace, the silence of the night was frequently broken by the Zakhan's moans and cries, as he wandered from room to room looking for his daughters. When he died, he was laid beside them, here, in the Tomb of the Princesses.
From where you stand, you can see two entrances to the Grand Palace; a spike-topped gate in the north wall, and an arch in the west wall, blocked by an iron portcullis. The palace is usually heavily guarded, but there are very few guards today; most are searching for you in the city.
If you wish to approach the north gate,
turn to 126
.
If you wish to approach the west arch,
turn to 79
.
If you wish to search for some other way of entering the Grand Palace,
turn to 49
.
You are very lucky that your enemy was only trying to knock you unconscious. Restore half the
ENDURANCE
points you lost in combat.
You pull yourself into the left chimney and pause to catch your breath. The scalding steam hurts your lungs, and every move becomes a tremendous strain, for your hands and feet are now swollen and sore. Lose 1
ENDURANCE
point before continuing your climb.
You hook your fingers into a jagged crack in the wall of the sweltering chimney and try to draw yourself upwards. Suddenly, a wave of fear engulfs you — something is crawling up your forearm. You have disturbed a nest of loathsome arachnids.
Steamspiders:
COMBAT SKILL
10
ENDURANCE
35
These creatures are immune to Mindblast. If you have lost the use of one arm, you cannot fight these biting horrors, for you will inevitably slip and fall into the
tar-sorkh
. Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
. This represents the number of
ENDURANCE
points that you lose (0 = 10) as you climb past the Steamspiders' nest.
Illustration X—Suddenly a wave of fear engulfs you as something crawls up your forearm.
If you are still alive after climbing past the nest, or if you fight the Steamspiders and win,
turn to 114
.
While you wait for the return of the guard, you are taunted and ridiculed by the other bully. He describes with relish all the horrible tortures that await you and is greatly disappointed when the other guard returns empty-handed. ‘The Zakhan doesn't want our northern friend damaged. He's got something special planned for him this evening,’ he snarls.
Wicked grimaces spread across their faces as they turn to leave the cell. Both now have their backs towards you.
If you have the Kai Discipline of Sixth Sense,
turn to 144
.
If you wish to attack the guards,
turn to 174
.
If you wish to remain as you are,
turn to 18
.
The water is becoming thicker, and the stench of the sewer gas increasingly more vile and nauseating. Suddenly the air becomes choked with thousands of tiny flies, and every time you gasp for breath you feel the thick fur of pulped bodies in your throat. The black specks build up like paste around your eyes, mouth, and nostrils, and the sharp tangy taste in your mouth makes you retch. Lose 1
ENDURANCE
point.
As if in answer to your prayers, an iron ladder appears from out of the gloom. It is fixed to the tunnel wall and leads up to a circular stone trapdoor in the ceiling.
If you wish to climb the ladder,
turn to 31
.
If you wish to ignore the ladder and press on along in the insect-choked tunnel,
turn to 139
.
The guard clutches at his wounds and drops lifeless to the ground. You see that the other man is recovering from your blow and is clawing at the cell door to try to pull himself to his feet.
If you wish to attack this guard,
turn to 78
.
If you wish to overpower him and capture him alive,
turn to 199
.