Kingdoms of Terror

The Kingdoms of Terror – Attempt 3, Part 1

Aussiesmurf

Welcome back!

It would be understandable to think that I had calmed down, and accepted the death of a previous incarnation of Lone Wolf.

giphy5

Preach it, Jennifer.

Anyway, revisiting character creation, I note that Divination was (pretty much) useless for the entirety of the adventure.  I therefore decide to instead take on the Discipline of Huntmastery, which gets me the Lore-Circle of Fire (Huntmastery and Pathmanship) with the consequent bonus to my scores (+1 CS and +2 E).

As I restart (sigh) the book, I’m going to resort to bullet-points, as I intend to (substantially) follow the same path.

  • I enter Casiorn, pay the toll, enter the bar and pay for my room and board.
  • I once more shoot Roark, and listen to Cyrilus’ story while adding him to my travelling party.
  • I stop a the archery tournament, enter, make it through the preliminary rounds and once more contest the final against Altan!
  • I manage to triumph, with 5 Endurance (Target) points left!
  • Silver Bow of Duadon – GET IN MY ARSENAL!

firstplace-600x420

  • I completely rip Altan off in giving him trinkets to ‘buy’ his horse, and chase after Cyrilus’ abductors.
  • I once more use Pathmanship to smoke out the riders from their village-based hiding place, take out the last rider with an arrow and rescue Cyrilus.
  • I run into the ineffectual Roark, and take out his zombies without breaking a sweat.  Cyrilus, like so many Lone Wolf companions, goes to that great sidekick meeting place in the sky.
  • I stop at the Halfway Inn and replenish my gold from guessing the conjurer’s riddle.
  • I pay for a room, my horse’s stable and a meal.
  • I buy Alether berries from the roadside temple.
  • I make it to Varetta, stop at the bar and take out the attempted robbers in the crowd.
  • I meet the mercenary captain and his men, and get directions from the innkeeper.
  • The next morning I nip across to Brass Street, enter the Observatory and get my directions from Gwynian.
  • I ride my (DOOOOMED) horse through Soren, once more avoiding Amory.
  • This time I don’t donate gold to the robber-baron statue, and neglect attempting to rescue the decoy deployed by the bandits.
  • I buy a ticket to Eula, though I don’t think that I’ll get to use it to the intended destination.
  • The captain and I repel the river pirates / boarders with nary a scratch.
  • While the captain buys potions, I replenish my arrows and buy a map of Tekaro.
  • We reach Tekaro, and I respectfully decline to take part in the suicide mission.

For a certain commenter :

jwsmwje

  • I duck around to the proverbial rear entrance, and again make my way through the sewers, thanking my lucky stars for my handy map, which enables me to avoid various nasty ‘insta-kills’ lurking for other adventurers.
  • I win my ‘battle’ with the door leading to the cathedral and prepare to face the Dakomyd!
  • Let’s dance.

In a couple of blows, I reduce this monstrosity to half its Endurance.  Before its body can reform I resist my natural impulse to strike again, and rather  open the vault.  Grabbing the Lorestone, it imbues me with ‘newfound wisdom and strength.  More importantly for our present purposes, it paralyzes the Dakomyd, and I despatch it with one blow.

o41r7

Project Aon link – Dying Dakomyd

I can now turn to the fabled 350, as the Lorestone’s energy is transferred to me.  There isn’t much of a sequel hook, with the book simply confirming that the next challenge will be…

CASTLE DEATH

Aside : I assume with a name like that, it isn’t a popular tourist rest stop.

Next – A summary and review of Book 6!

Base Stats : CS : 18, E : 22, GC 20

Final Stats : CS : 33, E : 27

Weapons : Silver Bow of Duadon (+3), Sommerswerd (+8 CS)

Backpack : Potion of Laumspur (+4E), Rope, Meal, Alether Berries (3) (+2 CS), Map of Tekaro

Special Items : Jewelled Mace, Brass Whistle, Copper Key, Map, Crystal Star, Shield (+2 CS), Sommerswerd, Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, Diamond, Ornate Silver Key, Dagger of Vashna, Quiver (6 arrows), Boat Ticket

Magnakai Rank : Kai Master Superior

Magnakai Disciplines : Weaponmastery (+3 CS in Sword, Bow, Mace), Pathmanship, Huntmastery

Lore-Circles : Fire (+1 CS, +2 E)

Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+2CS), Mindshield, Weaponskill (+2 CS in Short Sword)

Paragraph : 350

20 thoughts on “The Kingdoms of Terror – Attempt 3, Part 1”

  1. Hmm, you’re more laid back than me. I’d have slaughtered the grave robbers just to express frustration, no I don’t have a criminal record for random assaults, why do you ask? The bit I was most tense about was the archery contest, at least you didn’t need a replay this time.

    I imagine your critique of the book will be more critical than it would have been if you hadn’t had that instang death, just keep trying to breathe slowly and calmly.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Ehi Guys!! Watch out: Base Stats are now CS 18 EP 22 and, according to my calculation, GC are now 7…in the backpack you forgot the Tinderbox…and actually now you have these Magnakai Disciplines : Weaponmastery, Pathmanship and Huntmastery…yep i’m boring why do you ask?? 😀

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. I don’t agree with all of these :

      – The Bow is listed as a weapon.
      – The Magnakai Disciplines have now been edited.
      – I dropped the Tinderbox, since it is useless without a Torch.
      – Gold Crowns are 12 (I got 5 from the attempted robbers in the bar).
      – I factored in the Lore-Circle, just hadn’t updated ‘base stats’, but I have now done it that way.

      Yes I finished that entry at 11.15pm, why do you ask?

      Like

      Reply

  4. Ever completed a full gamebook in one entry before? This felt like “The Kingdom of Fleeting Concern” or “The Dotpoint Precis of Terror”. Ali G might have called it “Where’s me Julie?” Still enjoyed it though.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. That article was behind a firewall, but found a few others. Wow, what a near-disasterous clusterf***. “Calder Park would never hold a concert again”, indeed. This and the Veruca Salt show? Impressive concert resume.

        I was bewildered for a second when I read the temperature at the Calder Park concert approached a sweltering 40 degrees. But if I may brag for a moment, I can do the conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit in my head. ♫ The western desert lives and breathes, in forty five degrees ♫ But, that’s not even warm, oh right, metric system. Let’s see, 45/5=9, 9*9=81, 81+32=113, so lets say, 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, that is very hot. By the way, saw Midnight Oil years ago at Summerfest. They were awesome and they rocked, but you had already guessed that.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Re Calder Park. It is impossible to describe. People were being pulled out of the crowd left and right after fainting with dehydration and heat prostration. My ears were ringing for a few days and I was hoarse for a week. And they still didn’t play my favourite track (and top 5 song of all time by anyone) “Estranged”

        Like

      1. 1853! And I though baseball stadiums like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field had history. Cricket is a sport that I’ve always been intimidated by, since I’ve heard sitcom jokes about how it has byzantine rules and epically long games. But it could possibly be right up my alley.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Thinking some more about the final do or die choice in this book, Joe should’ve dropped a hint at some point about what the brilliance of the Lorestone can do to evil creatures. That would have made it more clear that getting that crypt open should be priority one. I personally found the fact that hacking and hacking at the creature wasn’t getting you anywhere to be a hint as to what you should do but the “yikes, I better not turn my back on him!” interpretation of that is equally valid.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. For all that we complain about unfairness in Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy was far worse. Sooo many arbitrary deaths or easy ways to get into an unwinnable state. For those of you who played graphic adventure computer games of this same vintage, Lone Wolf reminds me of LucasArts games and Fighting Fantasy was more like Sierra games in that respect.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. Ishar (and Ishar II or III) was an old roleplaying game with nice graphics (for that time!), atmosphere and a gritty fantasy world (some companions even stole your gold or tried to kill you during your rest).

    To me it was the equivalent of Fighting Fantasy: extremely hard with an unforgiving gameplay (no internet for hints at the time, no map, no tutorial) still charming and interesting despite the simple plot.

    Anyway also Grailquest have some nearly impossible parts. The author even said that he didn’t think that readers would have followed the rules…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Castle Death – Attempt 3, Part 4 – LONE WOLF PLAYTHROUGH

Leave a comment