The Dungeons of Torgar – Attempt 1,Part 2

Firstly, I want to thank Project Aon member TheFran for the plug on the Project Aon forum.  We’re not the same person – honest!

Following the strange wanderer’s directions, I follow the trail until I reach the seemingly (!) abandoned mining settlement of Kaig, presumably second cousin to Kaag.

Two trails leave the settlement – one leading out of the valley and into the forest, while the other follows the stream upriver to the mountains.

Interestingly, my Discipline of Pathmanship informs me that the trail that climbs out of the valley (and NOT the path that follows the stream) is north, which is the ‘direction’ of Pirsi.

Challenging – do I follow the advice of someone who is, in essence, a total stranger, or head in the direction (bearing in mind that paths can change direction) of Pirsi?

Given the specific verbal warning as given to me about the forest, I’m going to trust in the stranger’s advice, since my Sixth Sense did previously confirm that he was ‘truthful’.

 

I tell my Pathmanship to keep quiet and stop bugging me, as I start my stroll along the side of the cheerful stream.

As I make my way into the foothills, I reach the entrance to an ‘incredible’ gorge, filled with a sea of flowers so ‘colourful’ that I am ‘dazzled by their brilliance’.

Just as I’m starting to ask about what the catch might be, the book unsubtly suggests that I suddenly feel a desire to sleep amongst the blooms.

Anyone else think that Joe Dever watched (or read) The Wizard of Oz before he wrote this paragraph?

I don’t have to rely on a deus ex machina here, as my (advanced) Discipline of Nexus enables me to shake off the drowsy effects of the flowers.

Aside : If the book REALLY wanted to send Lone Wolf to sleep, they should have just made him watch a Star Trek : Voyager marathon….

Heh.

Aside : Yeah, I laughed at my own joke.  Sue me.

More importantly, as I reach the end of the gorge, I see a ‘pair of eyes’ (presumably attached to a head of some description) watching me from between an elevated pair of boulders.

Before I can formulate an appropriate course of action, I am hailed as a ‘Pathfinder’ (the accepted name for the messengers whose garb I have appropriated) and asked about what news I bear from Luomi.

I obviously choose to verbally respond (rather than trying to ‘escape’ the gorge) and ask the observer to identify himself.

He emerges, together with twenty or more bowmen, all competing to aim their nocked arrow as accurately as possible AT. MY. FACE.

After passing on recent news of the war, I am met with the (reasonable) response that an elite messenger would not be sent to relay such common knowledge.

Taking my fate in my (metaphorical) hands, I bluntly admit that I come not to bring news of the war, but rather to seek the assistance of Sebb Jarel.

When asked if I possess a Bullwhip, I answer in the negative (and I assume that carrying same would be a giveaway that I had killed Jarel’s brother).

I hold up my hand (displaying the Signet Ring) as a sign of good faith, and these ‘merry men’ agree to take me to their leader, on the condition that I agree to remain blindfolded…

Aside : This appears to be a cross between Sherwood Forest and Lothlorien….

After riding for two hours (!) blindfolded, I arrive at their camp, and my blindfold is removed as I am granted entrance to a cave which apparently contains their leader.

Aside : If the inside of the cave looked like this, I’d die happy :

 

Unfortunately, I am disappointed with the lack of resemblance to the above image.

Instead, a group of half-a-dozen or so men are eating roast boar (!) and drinking wine, as a man with ‘mouse-like’ features identifies himself as Sebb Jarel and asks how he can aid me.

However, my Discipline of Divination actually comes through in the crunch, and confirms that neither this man (nor anyone in the cave) is actually Sebb Jarel.

Fairly basic strategy, which didn’t work in Superman II –

I politely mention that this decoy is lying, and a massive man emerges from the shadows – tall and muscled, with red hair and bear.

So, basically Barak.

Project Aon link – Sebb Jarel

He dismisses the remainder of the men, before asking me what I really want from him.

After pouring out my heart to him, he acknowledges that I (now truthfully identified as a Kai Lord) offer him no guarantee of reward, along with the certainty of risk.

Aside : I don’t know whether, in the spirit of full disclosure, I make any admissions about the life expectancy of Lone Wolf’s sidekicks.

Having said all that, he does agree to help me, because he understands that his role is, naturally, to help the protagonist of the book.

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And that concludes the ‘normal’ portion of this entry, but I also want to make a brief announcement about the kickoff of the JUNE FUNDRAISER!

As many of you may (or may not) have noticed, this humble blog has a ‘buy now’ button on the lower right-hand side.  This is for those who wish to make a financial acknowledgement of the work that goes into preparing 15,000+ words of gamebook goodness every month.

Any funds received will be used for the simple purpose of buying books, and particularly gamebooks.

There is the capacity to make both one-off and recurring donations, and, to make things a little more interesting, for this month of June I’m going to proclaim the following rewards :

Make any donation – Get namechecked in the blog, with thanks.

$5.00 (Aus) or more – Get namechecked and have me plug, on this blog, a web-page (including your own) of your choice (On the basis that same is not obscene or NSFW)

$20.00 (Aus) or more – Get namechecked, get the web-page plug, and have the responsibility for making a choice at some point during the playthrough of the current book.

$50.00 (Aus) or more – Get namechecked, get the web-page plug, have a choice in the book, and pick one of the Grand Master Disciplines at the start of Book 13 (if I get that far).

The above message will be placed at the bottom of each post for this delightfully freezing (in Melbourne) month of June…

 

Base Stats : CS : 19, E : 25, GC 10

Current Stats : CS : 34/34, E : 31/31

Weapons : Sword, Dagger

Weapon-Like Special Items : Silver Bow of Duadon (+3), Sommerswerd (+8 CS)

Backpack : Vial of Gold Dust, Rope, Lantern, Potion of Alether (+2 CS), Potion of Laumspur (2), Meal

Special Items : 1. Sommerswerd (+8 CS) 2. Platinum Amulet, 3. EMPTY 4. Shield (+2 CS),     5. Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), 6. Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) 7. Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, 8. Psychic Ring 9. Quiver (6 arrows), 10. Fireseeds (6), 11. EMPTY 12. Silver Bow of Duadon.

Extra Special Item : Signet Ring

Kai Monastery storage :

• Backpack Items : Sack of Silver (3)
• Special Items : Mao of Tekaro, Diamonds (2), Boat Ticket, Power Key, Copper Key, Ornate Silver Key, Jewelled Mace, Sommerswerd, Brass Whistle. Quiver (4 arrows), Pass, Vial of Clear Liquid, Crystal Star Pendant, Receipt, Invitation

Magnakai Rank : Mentora

Magnakai Disciplines : Weaponmastery (+3 CS in Sword, Bow, Mace, Dagger, Spear, Quarterstaff, Broadsword), Pathmanship, Huntmastery, Divination, Invisibility, Nexus, Psi-Screen

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)

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