Fleeing LIKE A (non) BOSS from the village-centric battle, I hear the shouts of ‘bandits’ behind me, and have the choice of heading south or west through the woods.
Aside : How do I know they are the shouts of the bandits? Do bandits have a particularly distinctive lilt or accent with their shouts? Hopefully the shouts weren’t my rangers yelling at me to let me know the battle was won and asking me to come back and play poker with them.
Since there doesn’t appear to be any other hints regarding whether one route is better than another, I might as well head south towards Ruanon.
I ‘claw’ (?) my way through the wooded hillside, and run for four hours (!!!) before I feel confident that I have ‘outrun’ the enemy.
Aside : I understand hyperbole but four hours? Really?? I assume that Lone Wolf didn’t actually, you know, run for four hours. Its not he’s Avenger or something.
In any event, to make a long story short –
– I find, after shaking off my stubborn yet lacking pursuers, a mine entrance. I stroll in, hopeful that if I find a major passage, it might lead through to Ruanon.
Of course, it should also be noted that going into strange and dark caves / tunnels in the belief that it will be some kind of ‘short cut’ hasn’t got the best track record in these books. (Or in much of fantasy literature generally – Moria, anyone?)
In an interesting strategic choice, I find a Tinderbox and as many torches as I can carry (in addition to the one which I light and hold in my hand). Obviously these are necessary to make my way through the mine, and I must choose how many (after lighting the first) torches I want to stash in my Backpack.
After stowing away the Tinderbox, I have another two spots in my trusty pack, so I select another two torches.
To recap, I have both a tinderbox and multiple torches in my backpack. My non-camping self hopes that this isn’t a well-paved road to disaster.
With these pieces of mine equipment I valiantly make my way into the dark…
After casually passing some redundant colour dialogue I reach a classic left / right choice. I lifehack the decision with my Kai Tracking skill, which tells me to take the ‘right’ path (in both senses of the word).
In a slightly ominous tone, I am informed that the tunnel descends for ‘miles’ under the earth.
Aside : There is NO WAY you would get me into one of those deathtraps. Lone Wolf is a braver man than I.
I am then startled by a swarm of bats.
Project Aon link – Bat in Mine
I have either startled them with my fateful footsteps, or a half-crazed billionaire in the immediate vicinity needs backup.
There is some vague mention of the bats being attracted to my body heat but, as a total geek, I should mention that it is actually insects who are attracted to the body heat of humans, with bats then attempting to prey on the insects that are near to the person in question.
So now you know.
After navigating my way through the bats, I see a small wooden hut near the side of the tunnel, and it is strongly hinted that I am tired and need to rest.
In search of rest (and loot!!) I enter the hut. The hut is without any (visible) dangers, and I am able to rest to an extent where, if wounded, I would have been able to restore 2 Endurance points.
More interestingly (loot!!) there is an array of mining equipment such as picks, shovels and wheelbarrows.
While cruelly denied the opportunity of taking along a wheelbarrow, I can take a Pick and / or a Shovel, with the problem that each of them takes up two spaces in my backpack.
Hmmm. I’ll take the risk of discarding one of my Laumspur potions and one of my torches while taking along a Shovel.
Aside : How a Shovel fits into, you know, a Backpack, is perhaps best left unaddressed.
After further travel, I have a choice of heading west or south. Given that my destination (presumably) still lies to the south, I keep moving in that direction. I reach a collapsed section of the mine, although I am still carefully able to make my way across the partially destroyed bridge.
Breathing a sigh of relief on the other side, I must eat one of my meals.
Yum.
And as Lone Wolf eats, he and I ponder what may come next.
Base Stats : CS : 17, E : 20, GC 24
Modified Stats : CS : 29, E : 26
Weapons : Sommerswerd (+8 CS), Captain D’Val’s Sword
Backpack : 1 Meal, Laumspur potion (+4E), Holy Water,Tinderbox, 1 Torch, Shovel (2 slots).
Special Items : Map, Crystal Star, Shield (+2 CS), Sommerswerd, Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, Diamond, Ornate Silver Key, Scroll with Verse (para 84 of tCoD)
Kai Rank : Journeyman
Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+2CS)
Final Paragraph : 129
LONE WOLF PLAYTHROUGH 
i thought that bats were attracted by the torch, not the human body’s heat…a bat once entered in my room and was attracted by the light, in fact i turned off the light and the bat went away….dear Joe Dever is the torch’s light the big deal!!!
Off topic…Does anybody know who is Matteo Renzi here?
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My understanding is that bats do often fly towards light but it is again because the bats are attracted to the insects which gather around the light, rather than the light itself.
And isn’t Matteo Renzi the Italian Prime Minister?
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“Is the torch’s light the big deal”, have you being following some of the comment threads here??? Whether you can keep healing potions has encouraged as much vigorous debate and bitter division as who’s going to destroy/lead the free world. Yes! The torch’s light IS a big deal!
And on the topic of your off topic, will the real Matteo please stand up.
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It’s nice that you respect the Sommerswerd enough that you’re willing to give up a potion to avoid using it as a makeshift shovel.
“Do bandits have a particularly distinctive lilt or accent with their shouts?” Well, actually, these ones do, although the book won’t mention it until much later in the story.
“…if wounded, I would have been able to restore 2 Endurance points.” Lone Wolf lost 1 EP from falling off his horse and since it was not sustained in combat, it isn’t affected by the Healing skill, so he would have been (slightly) wounded at that point.
Good luck with the rest of the play-through.
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The project Aon guidelines on Healing say as follows : “Common sense says that wounds similar to those sustained in combat can also be healed, but ENDURANCE lost due to hunger, fatigue, etc. cannot”
I am using those principles and using Healing for all Endurance lost through injury, and not lack of Meals / sleep etc.
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Regarding Lone Wolf’s 4 hour run, it should be pointed out he’s spent stretches in every book so far running for his life so he’s probably getting very good at it. (Realistically it would probably have to be a mixture of running, jogging and “clawing”, especially with your insistence on TWO armoured waistcoats).
I should point out that while entering dark tunnels is generally a dangerous option in most stories its usually undertaken because, like here, its more dangerous outside. Also I have an emergency “go bag” backpack which could take a shovel, with a bit sticking out, and in fact it DOES have a fold up shovel in it.
I feel your pain in not being allowed to take the wheelbarrow as it would have been a valuable addition to your carrying ability. Don’t know if you ever played Daggerfall the computer game but you were able to buy a wagon which you could park outside the “dungeon” you were crawling and whenever you were carrying too much you would stagger back to the dungeon entrance, off load your loot and resume crawling. I freely admit that I used it to ridiculous extremes.
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I did have some experience with computer games, although I tend nowadays to buy games for a few dollars from GOG.com and play the crap out of old ones. My favourites were adventure games (such as the Gabriel Knight series and the Tex Murphy series) and RPGs (such as The Bard’s Tale, Might & Magic VI and Baldur’s Gate).
Special mention to Privateer 2 : The Darkening which, although it had its flaws had the single GREATEST cast ever for a video game : Clive Owen, Brian Blessed, Jurgen Prochnow, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, David Warner and Mathilda May!
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Love the GOG website, and yes those old games may not have the modern graphics but they still have plenty of playability.
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Graphics are secondary. Lords of the Realm II is still addictive, and only has functional graphics…
Like $200m movies with a script written by a drunken monkey.
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Too bad you didn’t get a Firesphere from Kalte. Would’ve saved you on the tinderbox. 😛
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