Last year I played The Prisoners of Time, the eleventh Lone Wolf gamebook, because I wasn't keen to have a second go at Echoes of Lost Light, the mini-adventure in the Mongoose Publishing reissue of the tenth book in the series. That attempt reminded me of what Prisoners is like (and cleared up a concern I had about possible adverse consequences of including Echoes in the ongoing narrative), so now I'm trying Echoes again in order to postpone the time at which I have to replay Prisoners for this blog.
To recap the plot: I have just recovered one of the three Lorestones which had fallen into the clutches of Darklord Gnaag. However, they were being used as bait in a trap, and now the other two and I are all plummeting into a portal leading to another realm. To make things worse, the Lorestone I now hold has been tainted by evil sorcery, and needs to be put right. As if the Lorestone were a computer with a virus, I need to use an uncorrupted back-up to restore it to its rightful state, and so I find myself in a mystical reconstruction of Luomi, the city from which it was stolen, and must make my way to the Shrine at the heart of the city. There are further complications: this version of the city being the most recent save from before the Lorestone was affected, it does also contain reconstructions of the Darklords' minions who plundered it, and the whole place is deteriorating, with great voids opening up between the still-stable parts of the fragmented sim city.
As on my previous attempt, I choose not to encounter the enemies I can sense within the remnants of the gatehouse and keep. However, this time round the random number generator does not favour me as I make my way along the cobblestone road, and I blunder into a spiked pit, losing a lot of Endurance. The text is unclear on whether a 0 on the table is to be treated as zero or ten, so I'm not sure whether I took 9 or 19 damage, but it's a significant amount either way.
Crawling back up to ground level, I proceed to the first breach in what passes for reality here, and will a bridge of light into being for long enough to cross it. Evading the phantasmal Drakkar warriors who patrol this section of the city, I follow the sounds of battle, since doing so last time led me to an essential-looking item.
Giak spearmen are attacking two of Luomi's defenders, and kill one of them before I can intervene. I fire a few arrows at them before charging into battle, and it's a good thing I do, because the random numbers I get are abysmal, and the fight would last even longer if I hadn't inflicted a decent amount of damage at the start. Depending on just how much damage I took in that trap, I'm down to 1 or 11 Endurance. Still, the damage I took in the fight will heal, provided I can stay out of trouble for long enough.
The last soldier passes on his hammer before dying, and I read his mind with Divination to find out what I have to do with it. Continuing on my way, I pass through the noxious mist wreathing the corpses of more of the city's fighting men, unharmed myself thanks to the Discipline of Nexus.
I've almost recovered all the Endurance I can (why is it that Healing will make good damage done by a spear if somebody jabbed it into me, but not if I fell onto it?) by the time I reach the next gap. This one is larger, and creating a bridge across it costs Endurance, though I am able to reduce the damage by a fair amount. Even so, I'm down to 6 or 16, and I won't be getting the points I just lost back any time soon.
As on my last attempt at this adventure, Divination alerts me to the existence of a secret tunnel that will enable me to avoid the burning streets, and Nexus gains me access to it. However, on this occasion I do not investigate the acoustically dubious echoes and fall into nothingness. The tunnel has many exits, though most are inoperable owing to the damage overhead. While seeking one that will let me out, I find an alcove where I can sit and rest.
It turns out that I was wrong about not getting back the Endurance I spent creating the bridge: in a departure from standard Lone Wolf rules, eating a Meal here will restore a couple of points. Remember, this place isn't real, so I don't actually need to eat, and therefore if I do have food, it'll make me stronger. Makes about as much sense as the demarcation of what damage Healing can put right and what it won't, but at least this time the nonsense benefits me. If I didn't have any food on me, I could still restore 1 Endurance by using the Discipline of Huntsmanship, which is a little awkward, given that there's no such Discipline. Hunting, yes. Huntmastery, yes. Grand Huntmastery, not until book 13, but it is a Discipline (or will be). But no Huntsmanship.
Further along, I note that the floor of the tunnel is damaged, forcing me to tread carefully in order to avoid injuring my foot on a broken flagstone. Rounding a corner, I discover the reason for the poor state of repair here. A massive Bloodwyrm has burrowed into the tunnel, and appears keen to find out if eating me will add to its Endurance. As I don't have the Discipline of Animal Control (which is not referred to as Animal Controlsmanship, though I imagine it's only a matter of time), I must fight. The Bloodwyrm has the same stats as the mob of Giaks I fought earlier, but this time the random numbers are on my side, and I kill it with a single blow, taking no damage myself.
A little further on I see indications that there's another breach up ahead. A ladder leads up to a hatch like the one through which I entered, and this one does open. Back above ground I can make out nothing but smoke and fire, but have no trouble finding the edge of this chunk of solidity. A slightly tricky choice awaits me here: I must decide how much Endurance I'm willing to sacrifice to create the next bridge, and then add a random number (plus a bonus for having the right Lore-Circle). So do I spend enough to guarantee success, but risk dying from Endurance loss later on, or conserve my health and take a chance on getting a high enough number anyway?
I spend enough to halve the risk of failure. It's not enough (confounded RNG!). I collapse, worn out by not exerting myself hard enough, the ground disintegrates beneath me, and I plunge into unending nothingness.
Great stuff as always
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