Feeling somewhat like Sisyphus, I return to the fray.
As my faithful readers now know, there is a point partway through the adventure where Lone Wolf’s Endurance gets restored to maximum. I’m going to refrain from repeated commentary up until that points, so you’ll just have to accept my word for it if I don’t die through that initial portion….
And having said that, I didn’t actually get to discover the Endurance-restoring crystal, because of my R10 check going another way.
And…..I basically get all the way to the Crystal Spire (paragraph 325 for those following along at home) without any serious problems (ie. the avalanche didn’t kill me, and I didn’t have any other serious problems….)
I lose 2 Endurance due to the psychic probe that emanates from the Crystal Sphere, and am able to continue!
I face the three Cabalah and, at the cost of using an ineffective Kai-surge, am able to evade them (ie. run away) without combat!
I find the archway, which is guarded by the shimmering curtain of light.
I enter the next chamber, and use my Kai-alchemy to snaffle the Onyx Key.
I don’t set off the alarm, but I once more have to face the Kajarda
Lone Wolf (w/out Sommerswerd, with Kai-surge, with Alether) – CS : 42, E : 44
Kajarda – CS : 48, E 42
After eight rounds of pitched battle, I am triumphant, albeit with Endurance of 7, just above the cut-off for my one-off ’20 Endurance restoration’.
Yeah…..not that type of wounded, Frasier.
Aside : Frasier and Seinfeld were the two main sitcom protagonists who never seemed have have a lack of gorgeous women to date (and to subsequently have toxic relationships with) despite a lack of good looks or a friendly personality. Ah, well.
I guess we can’t all look like this :
*clears throat nervously*
Anyway.
While I make my way past the shimmering barrier, and towards my fight with Tagazin, I manage to restore 8 (net) Endurance points.
My psychic blast also takes away (3×2)=6 of Tagazin’s Endurance.
Furthermore, this time I remember to actually use my MEGASWORD, which is thirsting for some undead blood!
Aside : I’m assuming Tagazin is undead for double damage purposes
(Also activates Kai-surge and gulps some Alether, along with two Laumspur potions).
Lone Wolf – CS : 50, E : 23
Deathlord Tagazin : CS : 55, E 60
In the ensuing battle, I manage to reduce Tagazin’s Endurance to 24, but at the cost of using my one-off 20 point restoration, and then again being reduced to 17….
Similiar to those moments when dad comes to break the fight of the children, the Deathlord makes a sulky appearance, whipping out his new toy, the Deathstaff!
Aside : Joe Dever really had the whole ‘naming’ thing on autopilot around this time, didn’t he?
The Deathlord raises his weapon and somehow conjures us both through the Shadow Gate, and into the alternate plane of existence!
Aside : Hopefully, this trend of ‘getting further into the book on each attempt’ will continue!
And, even better, a Project Aon footnote confirms that, while in the Shadow Plane, my MEGASWORD gives me a further +4 to my Combat Skill!
Now, the bad news :
- This is a slightly shorter entry, primary because of reason 2, which is….
- Tomorrow, my family and I will be taking our first overseas trip since our 2007 marriage, because we’re going…….here!
Yes – Phuket, Thailand, here we come (and yes, that is our hotel – yay!)
From a practical standpoint, this means that this will be the last entry for a couple of weeks….
Stay safe, and I’ll see you all on the other side.
Pop culture :
While we’re talking about beaches, there is an INCREDIBLY underrated comedy / satire from the 80s called Water. Set on a (fictional) British colony in the Caribbean, it stars the always-dependable Michael Caine, along with Billy Connolly, Valerie Perrine and Brenda Vaccaro. For music fans, it also includes cameos by George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Jon Lord)
Basic Stats : CS : 26, E : 39, GC 50
Current Stats : CS : 44/44, E : 19/40
Weapons : Sword
Weapon-Like Special Items : Silver Bow of Duadon (+3), Sommerswerd (+8 CS),
Backpack : Lantern, Rope, Jar Laumwort x3 (+2 Endurance), Ruby Ring, Potion of Alether (+2CS), Hammer, Laumspur (x0) (+4 E), Jar Laumspur x4 (+4E), Jar Alether x2 (+2CS)
Special Items :
1. Sommerswerd (+8 CS) (with Korlinium scabbard) 2. Crystal Star Pendant , 3. EMPTY 4. Quiver (6 arrows), 5. Statuette of Zagarna, 6. EMPTY 7. Silver Rod 8. Jadin Amulet (+1 to dodging) 9. Jewelled Mace, 10. Silver Bracers (+2 CS, +1 E) (6), 11. Golden Key 12. Silver Bow of Duadon.
Extra Special Items – Platinum Amulet, Scroll with Invitation
Kai Monastery storage :
- Gold Crowns : 13
- Backpack Items : Sack of Silver (3), Brass Key, Black Key, Jar Gallowbrush x2 (Sleep and -2 Endurance), Jar Sabito x2 (Underwater breathing), Spyglass, Arrows (1), Whistle, Ball of String, Bottle of Wine, Bowstring.
- Special Items :
Grand Master Rank : Sun Thane
Grand Master Disciplines : Kai-surge, Kai-screen, Grand Huntmastery, Grand Pathsmanship, Kai-Alchemy, Assimilance, Grand Nexus, Deliverance.
Magnakai Disciplines : Weaponmastery (+4 CS in Sword, Bow, Mace, Dagger, Spear, Quarterstaff, Broadsword, Warhammer, Axe, Short Sword), Pathmanship, Huntmastery, Divination, Invisibility, Nexus, Psi-Screen, Psi-Surge, Curing, Animal Control
Lore-Circles : Fire (+1 CS, +2 E), Light (+3 E), Solaris (+1 CS, +3 E), Spirit (+3 CS, +3 E)
Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+3CS), Mindshield, Weaponskill (+2 CS in Short Sword)
Current paragraph : 179
LONE WOLF PLAYTHROUGH 
I’m assuming Tagazin is undead for double damage purposes
Sorry, but demon =/= undead. If you take the path that includes a fight against Tagazin in The Dungeons of Torgar, the book says nothing about increased damage when using the Sommerswerd against him, whereas it clearly states that the Sommerswerd does double damage against the undead Cener Ghosts in a subsequent encounter.
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Have a nice holiday, Aussiesmurf!
When you return, I must vote as Ed did… It’s quite possible that Tagazin is becoming LW’s horned cyclop, as you probably wouldn’t have survived if you hadn’t doubled his endurance loss… and we can’t suppose Deathlord Tagazin is an undead just because of his job title. I’d call for an Attempt 4 part 1 upon your return.
And since we’re nitpicking, I am still undecided on whether the wording of paragraph 98 of the Dawn of the Dragons gamebook is intended to provide a blanket +4 CS whenever you’re in the plane of Darkness. The bonus was granting because of the specific glow that imbued the blade after your prayer to Ishir. It isn’t granted in the same fight if you reach it by another mean, for example by weakening the opponent beforehand. No prayer, no bonus.
Tagazin must really be fed up with Lone Wolf consistently foiling his plans (especially if they meet in person in DoT). (unless he didn’t go the Isle of Ghosts… in which case Roark probably succeeded in his plan of conjuring up a plague not unlike the one the Cenerese wanted to release. Two books later, you visit Lencia and find… absolutely no trace of plague-ridden, abandoned cities, proving that this whole plague business is vastly overhyped.
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Regarding that section in Dawn of the Dragons, it’s pretty clear that the effect of the prayer to Ishir is to restore your endurance score to max. The bonus is “due to the increased power of your sword while on the Plane of Darkness”, not “due to the blinding halo bestowed by the Goddess Ishir”.
Also, there’s no other section in which that particular enemy is fought with the Sommerswerd, so I’m not sure what comparison you were making in terms of supposedly being able to fight him without praying to Ishir.
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Section 98 states that you pray, then there is the glow, and you realize that your weapon is powerful enough to kill the dragon, it specifically states that ” this realization greatly lifts your spirits (restore any ENDURANCE points lost so far)”. Getting back Endurance is the result of the morale boost, not the prayer, the glow is the result of the prayer. Generalizing the flavor text “due to the increased power of your sword while on the Plane of Darkness, you may add 4 CS for the duration of this fight” to mean you can add 4 CS to every fight on the plane of Darkness and not just this specific one, fought after the glow-inducing prayer, seems like overstretching the wording of the text: it states you can add +4CS, for this fight, not for every fight ever on the plane of Darkness, including those in previous books where this bonus couldn’t have been known from the player without using OOC knowledge (and in later fights where it’s also not stated, so that would be a lot of oversights from the author).
And I think you overlooked section 344 : there is, indeed, another section in which that particular enemy is fought with the sommerswerd. If you choose to fire an arrow at the dragon from the distance (a choice totally available and logical even if you have the Sommerswerd), use Magi-Magick and get a result just under what is needed to kill the dragon outright, he’s maimed but not killed (he gets -6 CS and -7 EP), and you get to fight the dragon, at section 344, where no mention is made of an increased bonus if you wield the Sommerswerd for this (easier) fight. Of course, one could say it was an important oversight in section 344 and that it (and other fights taking place in the PoD) should be rewritten (that’s the choice of PA who made a note linking to section 98) but I prefer to think the bonus in section 98 was intended to be circumstancial, which requires less rewriting (it just requires adding “in these circumstances” “plane of darkness” and that would be a very legalese wording, further justifying its omission by the author…)
Thematically, it also makes the prayer cooler: you receive some help from a higher power and voila, the sword is strengthened while on the plane of Darkness. That’s a miracle worth noting. If the only effect of the prayer is making your blade glow, well, color me unimpressed (and yellow, because of the glow). The realization that the Sommerswerd is a powerful weapon isn’t something new or impressive, and it’s a very cheap miracle to prompt this realization — I think LW knows the megasword is powerful since he unsheathed it near Zagarna’s camp in book 2, and providing a reminder of that is meh.
Mechanically, if you injure the dragon with an arrow and then fight it, you have the regular CS bonus of the Sommerswerd compared to someone starting the series with this book. If you don’t hit with the arrow, you get two different fights : either you don’t have the Sommerswerd and you fight a CS 52 enemy, or you have it and you fight a CS 56 enemy… with a +4 bonus to your CS, so you only get the regular CS bonus of the Sommerswerd compared to any other weapon. From the “gaming” aspect, I can see the dragon being buffed to account for the circumstancial bonus described, intended as a flavour for regular reader and not as a way to make the fights easier.
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“proving that this whole plague business is vastly overhyped”
Tagazin was NOT happy to be called by Roark.
“Roark and his followers throw themselves to their knees and praise the creature devoutly. He responds by lowering his glowing eyes and regarding them with disdain.”
Now it doesn’t specifically say that Roark and Co. wanted another plague, just that they were in an “hour of dread uncertainty” and wanted help. If it WAS a request for another plague then there was a very effective plan in place to remove Lone Wolf from the face of Magnamund and then have the Darklords overrun said face with fire and sword releasing a devastating plague on the land really won’t have been high on their list of Cool Things To Do. The state of Roark when next met answers how Tagazin reacted when listening to what he called “A Modest Proposal”.
Another flaw with the request for a plague is that the Divination skill mentions that previously all the Elder Magi’s Biological Research was focused here and the Cener, aided by Tagazin, used this to make a plague. Now Roark comes with a few hanger’s on looking for help. I don’t think he really had a coherent plan to be honest.
On other matters I have to agree with you and Ed on Tagazin NOT being Undead (He’s a Demonlord, Demonlord is NOT the same as undead). Also with you on the “+4 CS bonus in the Dark Plane” but as our Author is a Lawyer he will be able to use the Spell “It’s Down In Writing”, and that is a powerful Spell.
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Always good to see Michael Caine in a good movie. Though even when he’s in bad movies, we get quotes like this: “I have never seen (Jaws: The Revenge), but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” And it’s not even just the money with him; he’s an actor, so he acts. Project ends, he finds another one and starts acting anew.
Jerry Seinfeld wasn’t great looking, but wasn’t unattractive and kept himself thin. He was funny and not at all a slob. And while the Jerry in the show was way less successful than real Jerry, he did get on TV, and celebrity still attracts people. Frasier Crane was also a celebrity, witty, educated, and excellent in conversation. Not conventionally attractive either, but tall, dressed well, and owned his baldness. The real mystery was how George Costanza got beautiful women. But we got a glimpse of how he did it when they were in the antique shop where they got the cigar store Indian. He confidently struck up a conversation with a woman, said the ridiculous yet awesome line “When I see beautiful things, I must have them”, and somehow it worked. It wouldn’t most of the time, but once in a while…
A great high school teacher gave me a new way to consider Sisyphus that stuck with me. It seems like a torturous existence, but sometimes Sisyphus will roll that boulder up the hill and, right before it tumbles down, think “That was a good boulder-rolling. I’m satisfied with that one.” Even if most of the time he’d be miserable, there’d still be good experiences that keep that life from being complete torture.
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“Even if most of the time he’d be miserable, there’d still be good experiences that keep that life from being complete torture.”
That makes the story an allegory for most jobs I’m afraid.
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Hope you have a great holiday.
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“I face the three Cabalah and, at the cost of using an ineffective Kai-surge, am able to evade them (ie. run away) without combat!”
With the Cabalah Discretion may not be the better part of Valor, but it certainly is the part that survives.
“Frasier and Seinfeld were the two main sitcom protagonists who never seemed have have a lack of gorgeous women to date”
T-Man makes some good points on the matter. But I’d also add that its being pointed out that while men go more for physical appearance women go more for emotional appearance, both can be deceptive. I’d also like to quote Lois McMaster Bujold’s book “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance”, “The thing people don’t think about is that lots of girlfriends means lots of breakups”.
“I guess we can’t all look like [Chris Hemsworth ]*clears throat nervously*”
Well … you’ve both got a Beard and Moustache … and I can guarantee three votes over who wears them better 😉
“Aside : I’m assuming Tagazin is undead for double damage purposes”
Moral Dilema:
1) Demonlords aren’t Undead
2) Repeatedly rerolling fights to try and win isn’t fun
I do NOT agree with the idea that “Rules are made to be broken”. Try applying that when you’re driving and your being dead actually manages to be among the best case scenario’s. Rules are made to enable humans to get on with the more important business of living and should be respected.
On the other hand my dad once said “If the rules are made to break you, it’s time to break the rules”. Without going into pointless discourses on Pre American Civil War Slavery Laws I’ll quote from Gene Kelly in Anchor’s Aweigh – Chorus “Its The Law, Its The Law” Gene Kelly “Its a Terrible Law”.
Nearly every day at work I have to choose between making life easier for people and making some legitimate money for my company or obeying company laws that will benefit absolutely no-one. (e.g. only acceptable forms of ID to buy Alcohol are Full Irish Driving Licence, Garda Age Card or Irish Passport, a couple of weeks ago a young woman came in with an Australian Driving Licence. Do I serve her?)
Keep living and keep up the fun is the best answer to this particular Moral ….
ROFLing. Literally while I was typing “Moral” above my ten year old came running in outraged that someone was at our wall and one of my wife’s plants “He’s literally tearing pieces from our plants”. Looking out I saw it was just an old man plucking a few white flowers before going into next door. Stealing people’s flowers IS against the rules, but living and human kindness is what’s most important.
“Similiar to those moments when dad comes to break the fight of the children”
… you know what, you know all those dramatic scenes where the hero has been going head to head with No. 2 and then the chief villain comes in, I’ll never be able to take those seriously again, (Fenrir hears Lone Wolf and Tagazin crying out “But DAD!!!:”)
“Aside : Hopefully, this trend of ‘getting further into the book on each attempt’ will continue!”
Hope springs eternal in the Human breast.
“my family and I will be taking our first overseas trip since our 2007 marriage”
You made a wise move marrying someone living in your country. Marrying an Indian means that nearly every year since getting married we’ve gone to India for our holidays. I’m actually looking forward to staying at home next year.
Pop Culture
“At Least with the Cubans we had a plan”
Caine : “Oh, What was it?”
Connolly embarrassed : “We don’t know, they never told us”.
First rule of comedy, you’ve got to have reality.
Ok, so this bit is just taken straight from Wikipedia but I think its an amazing tribute:
“Connolly said Caine “taught me so much, about how to be generous to other actors. We were climbing up a hill and we were being filmed from the top. Suddenly he went, oh! My leg! And he spoiled a whole take. So they said we’re doing it again, and he whispered to me ‘next time, move further to the right, they can’t see you’. He was lovely.”
Roll on your journey to the outer limits.
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