2nd post in a 24 hour period! That’s the good news. For the…less-good news, read the end of this post.
The choice from the end of the last entry is an interesting one – north into an ambush, or south, heading away from my goal.
One of my faithful commenters made, in the comments to the last post, the valid point that an ambush isn’t really an ambush if you know that it is coming, although there is a possibility that the gamebook won’t factor in my advance warning.
The above statement is applicable not only to certain situations in gamebooks, but also to the end of Field of Dreams, the incinerator scene in Toy Story 3 or reading this poem by John Updike.
In any event, the challenge of the upcoming ambush will be met!
We move north, around the stinking pool, while best-left-unseen creatures slither about our legs.
Project Aon link – Skull in swamp
Sure enough, the ‘trap’ is sprung, as creepy creatures (taller than a man, with ‘corpse-green skin’ and ‘toad-like features’) emerge from the swamp.
Aside : This time I consider it likely that Steve Bannon and the Wicked Witch of the West have offspring that no-one knew of until now….
Given the choice between using a Fireseed or my bow, I am hopeful that my Fireseed may take out multiple opponents.
Unfortunately, I am informed that the soft skull of one of these creatures (who are apparently called Xlorgs (!)) isn’t hard enough for the Fireseed to ignite, and it drops harmlessly into the swamp.
Sighing at how messy these things can get, I melodramatically draw my MEGASWORD…
Lone Wolf – CS : 34, E : 31
Xlorg – CS : 22, E : 30
I snort in disdain as my R10 of 9 gives me a satisfyingly brutal instakill against this creature, and I leap to Paido’s aid, who is now being attacked by three of these Xlorgs.
Aside : Can’t exactly blame them, going for the weaker link rather than the warrior monk wielding a magic sword.
I take out one Xlorg from behind, and incapacitate another, while the third wounds Paido. This third monster (literally) spits in my face (!) and, to give Paido due credit, he knifes it from behind as it presses for the kill. I have to face the final Xlorg in single combat!
Lone Wolf – CS : 34, E : 31
Xlorg – CS : 23, E : 32
A couple of average R10s leaves me 5 Endurance points lighter before the Xlorg falls down before me.
I promptly drag Paido out of harm’s way, as his wounded arm is attracting the interest of a number of real estate agents….[ahem]…leeches.
As we leave, we note that the dead Xlorgs are joining the swamp ecosystem….by being eaten.
Once we leave the area, I perform some basic Healing on Paido’s wound, before quickly moving to an isolated area of solid ground. Here, while noting both a clear pool and a tree with red fruit, Paido again mentions something which should have come up a LOT earlier – he has the Magnamund equivalent of a homing device, which serves to locate the mineral known as korlinium (I’ll come back to that) which makes up the spire of the abandoned temple.
Aside : We can only hope that none of this ‘korlinium’ has been taken by scavengers or native fauna to another location.
Aside #2 : I know ‘korlinium’ is a pretty stupid name, but at least they didn’t call it something boneheaded like, I don’t know, ‘unobtainium’. No-one who would call a fictional element ‘unobtainium’ would ever get funding for a major art or film project, becau….
Oh.
Back to the adventure.
While Paido is fiddling with his toy, I check out the tree. Luckily, my Huntmastery discipline warns me that the things which look like fruits are in fact carnivorous creatures, disguised to trap the unwary (!!!)
Talk about eating something that’s bad for you….
…………
……………………
As Paido joins me, he ruefully admits that his electronic trinket is receiving no signal whatsoever. Using pretty basic lateral thinking, I point out that a tower of volcanic rock existing within our eyeline may be blocking the signal, and that the temple may be on the other side.
Paido (with some shame, I would hope) admits that this is a possible (and obvious) explanation for the problems.
With no other option, we set off in that direction, hoping to cover the 10 miles or so (!?) by sunset.
Aside : I did a bit of preliminary research, and in jungle, speeds for explorers with no trail to follow are around 3-5 miles in an ENTIRE DAY. This explorer when following a pre-existing trail, mentioned speeds of around 1.2 miles an hour.
Anyway.
Aaaand I shouldn’t necessarily have doubted Mr Dever, because the remainder of this paragraph mentions how slow progress becomes, and the two characters despair of reaching their destination before dark.
As our adventurers despair of the wisdom of their jungle trek, we leave them.
And now, an announcement!
I will actually be going on an overdue holiday with my family for a period of a little over a week, so this playthrough will lay dormant for that period of time. In order to keep some kind of interest happening, I’ve decided to, in the comments, do my first ever AMA [Ask Me Anything].
Below, feel free to ask me any questions you like : about my thoughts on gamebooks, movies, RPGs, computer games, politics (gulp) etc.
Depending on how many questions I get, I’ll either answer them at the top of my first post back, or devote a whole post to them.
Stay safe, and I’ll talk to you all before you know it.
Base Stats : CS : 19, E : 25, GC 34
Current Stats : CS : 34, E : 26
Weapons : Sword, Dagger
Weapon-Like Special Items : Silver Bow of Duadon (+3), Sommerswerd (+8 CS),
Backpack : Wrist / Fingerguard, Rope, Lantern, Meals (2), Sacks of Silver (3)
Special Items : 1. Sommerswerd 2. Platinum Amulet, 3. Crystal Star, 4. Shield (+2 CS), 5. Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), 6. Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) 7. Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, 8. Vial of Clear Liquid, 9. Quiver (5 arrows), 10. Fireseeds (4), 11. Pass, 12. Silver Bow of Duadon.
Kai Monastery storage :
- Backpack Items :
- Special Items : Mao of Tekaro, Diamonds (2), Boat Ticket, Power Key, Copper Key, Ornate Silver Key, Jewelled Mace, Dagger of Vashna, Brass Whistle.
Magnakai Rank : Tutelary
Magnakai Disciplines : Weaponmastery (+3 CS in Sword, Bow, Mace, Dagger, Spear), Pathmanship, Huntmastery, Divination, Invisibility
Lore-Circles : Fire (+1 CS, +2 E), Solaris (+1 CS, +3 E)
Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+2CS), Mindshield, Weaponskill (+2 CS in Short Sword)
Paragraph : 292
LONE WOLF PLAYTHROUGH 
Have a wonderful vacation!
Unobtainium is actually a coolish reference, though one can propably argue its inclusion in Avatar to have been unwise: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium
That Updike poem was great, and yeah, pretty feels-inducing. Not too long ago we thought one of my parents’ cats didn’t have too long left in this world. He’s gotten better, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have a great break. You need it. Ciao.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe you’ve discussed this and I forgot, or didn’t read those Way of the Tiger blogs, but have you played the Fabled Lands gamebook series (and if so, are you getting an autographed copy of the long-awaited Book 7 like I am)? I missed the series when it was first published in the ’90s, but some chance online comments led me to them. They’re amazing, and a blog series for playing them could be pretty great, if potentially never-ending.
LikeLiked by 2 people
What is best gamebook you’ve ever read?
What’s the worst gamebook you’ve ever read?
What’s your favorite Lone Wolf book?
What’s your least favorite Lone Wolf book?
Maybe those last two should wait until this playthrough is over, come to think of it. 🙂
Why is Australia considered part of Asia instead of Oceania when it comes to World Cup soccer qualifying?
LikeLiked by 2 people
What’s the best (and worst) computer game you’ve ever played?
What’s the best (and worst) RPG you’ve ever played?
Why haven’t the United States (or other major democracies) adopted Instant Runoff Voting like Australia has?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is it because smart countries do proportional representation?
(Maybe not for precidencies… that might get complicated.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the previous entry you speculated on a poor Minotaur being molested by an out of control (i.e. normal) Donald Trump, now you want Steve Bannon leering, “I’ve got YOU my pretty” at a defenceless Wicked Witch of the West, sometimes you’re imagination can be quite depraved, it keeps us hanging on.
Paido gets credit for backstabbing … possibly not the proudest moment of that warrior lords career.
Korlinium gets used so often in the Lone Wolf series that I became quite used to it, I can give no defence for myself. But at least I can now point out that “Unobtainium” was a small crime compared to the movie being a shameful example of White Military Industrial Saviour Complex 😉.
Btw, I want you to know that my toes were curled with tension over your “bad news” announcement. So AMA questions: (I’ll deliberately avoid “behind the scenes” writing questions.
1) When you first started your trawl though award winning gamebooks did you imagine that commentators would spend so much time criticizing and correcting you?
2) The comments threads have gone into some pretty weird subjects but everyone has always been allowed to have their say while others might say why they disagree with them. Do you have subjects you dread coming up, and are you stu ..I mean open enough to tell us what they are?
3) What is your favourite food and drink? (Not necessarily in the same meal).
4) Why were you unconscious in an ambulance?
5) Your father is an economist, what interested you in Law?
6) Is there a set time you tend to write your playthroughs?
7) Part of me wants to ask how you manage to read 5 books in a week when on holiday with two children and a wife but my dad got to be that fast as otherwise he’d never get to finish his books. Thats not really a question.
7b). What was your first gamebook? And can you remember how you came to get it? (For the record my first was The Citadel of Chaos, we’d been on a holiday in the country and stopped off in a bookstore (entire family are readers). I saw this strange type of book and decided to try it, hooked ever since).
8) Paul Hogan made”G’Day” famous over here, at least among his viewers, does anyone actually talk that way nowadays?
LikeLiked by 1 person