The Wolves Are Running

Back to Magnamund I go, and, as I said the last time I got a Lone Wolf killed, I'm going right back to the start to get a character who has better prospects of surviving the fight that's been causing me trouble in book 11. A bit extreme, but I'm still able to derive enjoyment from some of the earlier adventures in the series, while leaping straight back into The Prisoners of Time now holds less appeal than doing household chores or punching myself in the face, so replaying the less onerous books first might just help me get through the ordeal that is the penultimate Magnakai adventure. Besides, it gives me the opportunity to act upon advice provided in comments on a couple of past playthroughs.

As I'm going back to the beginning, I've taken the opportunity to make some refinements to the Lone Wolf player in my gamebook manager, most significantly differentiating injuries sustained in battle from non-combat Endurance loss, so Healing will no longer affect damage that, by the rules, it cannot make good. No more ambiguity about whether or not I won the tougher fights fair and square.

The first new Lone Wolf I created only had 13 Combat Skill, so I contrived for him to get entangled in foliage and speared through the heart by a Giak. Harsh, but in a world where a starting CS of 16 won't cut the mustard, he was always doomed.

His replacement showed a little more promise, with:
Combat Skill 17
Endurance 28
Might not suffice, but it's close enough to give him a fairer chance. His randomly determined proficiency in Weaponskill is Spear, which should at least come in handy for the hardest fight in the second book.

I'm not going to go into detail about his early adventures. For the most part they run along similar lines to those of his more doomed predecessors, so I'll just link to my accounts of them and mention any noteworthy differences below. For the most part I shan't be comparing editions, either, because that would just make the replaying take longer, and with 10 books and a mini-adventure to redo, I already have plenty to be getting on with.

In Flight from the Dark I assist Banedon the magician by throwing a rock at a Giak that was sneaking up on him, get given some fruit by a hermit in a tree house, and have my arm gashed by a Kraan while heading for cover - which does at least provide an opportunity to test my modifications to the gamebook manager. Beneath the Graveyard of the Ancients I have a nice sit-down, as a result of which the Winged Serpent gives me a key instead of attacking me. The wound from the Kraan persists on my digital Action Chart until I reach the end of the book and get to heal up, which is what was supposed to happen, so this is one of the rare occasions while playing a gamebook when being injured (in-game) could be considered a positive.

I'm sticking with the 'institute save points between books' policy, so in the event of this character's falling victim to any of the unavoidable '10% chance of Instant Death' moments in three of the next four books (or experiencing some other kind of fatality), he will respawn back at the start of the book in which he died. I'm no longer enough of a glutton for punishment to go all the way back to the beginning every single time I fail.

Moving on to Fire on the Water, after the shipboard fire I eat with the Captain rather than the crew. Portions are tiny because so much was destroyed in the fire. After the meal we play a chess-like game named Samor, with a side bet. Later in the series Lone Wolf becomes something of a hustler, but this early in his career, chance determines the outcome (though Sixth Sense does help). I win even before the bonus for having that Discipline. The rest of the journey to Ragadorn passes as before, but on the coach out of the city my fellow passengers and I have to pay 'exit tax' to some of the Overlord's tame thugs.

The next difference after that is that I respond to the calls for help that I hear between Gorn Cove and Port Bax, consequently getting into a fight with an undead Helghast and claiming the magic spear that had almost killed it before I intervened. I'm not going to have many chances to use my Weaponskill, so I might as well take the opportunity while I can. On the next leg of the journey, the attack by a sextet of Helghast doesn't include the 1 in 10 chance of Instant Death, though my companions are as doomed as ever. When we reach the Tarnalin tunnel I retain my spear, ignore the Noodnics, and kill the ambushing Helghast without even having to fight it. I'm more proactive during the battle with the death-hulks, getting to confront but not harm Vonotar the Traitor aboard his flagship, and never encountering the reanimated corpses of my erstwhile shipmates.

On my journey through The Caverns of Kalte, I manage to open the vial of poison without breaking it, and then decide not to take it with me, as the Barbarians I might otherwise end up using it on are probably only opposing me through sorcerous compulsion, so it'd be less destructive to the local population if I use the sleeping draught that's in one of the other vials and get rid of the evil magician who's taken charge of the region. The climactic fight against the undead gribbly takes longer than it did in the playthrough linked to above, but not so long as to cause me to fail the book.

After I succeeded at The Chasm of Doom, I said I'd make sure to have Camouflage if I ever replayed it. Even with the bonus it gives when I try to evade the drunken guards, I still get the less favourable outcome, but that's an easy fight anyway. During the battle at Ruanon I enter a watchtower, use Healing to enable a wounded archer to keep fighting, and fight a Vassagonian Captain who rides a giant bird and tries to harm me with a psychic attack (failing because I have Mindshield). He drops an Onyx Medallion, which I risk taking, and later, on my way to the Maakengorge, I use it to deal with a Vassagonian search party I encounter, brandishing it as I impersonate a superior officer, reprimanding them for their scruffiness, and sending them away into the forest. This means I have no need to hide in the crop field, so the main reason I chose Camouflage for this book doesn't come into play.

Incidentally, now that I'm playing by a stricter interpretation of the rules governing Healing, this book becomes a bit tougher. While I never came seriously close to death, I did spend a fair amount of the battle at Ruanon with a lower Endurance than I was entirely comfortable with. The book also highlighted just how arbitrary the distinction between combat damage and non-combat damage can be - when a Vassagonian soldier pretends to be dead and then launches a surprise attack on me, Healing can't do anything about the wound he inflicts in the ambush, but as soon as I draw a weapon and start to fight back, every other injury he causes will be put right by Healing if I stay alive long enough after the fight. How does that make sense?

Oh, and if Lone Wolf is about to enter a region where Hunting cannot be used to procure food, it would be fairer to mention this before or when the option to load up on Meals is given, rather than keeping quiet about it until it's too late to grab anything to compensate for this limitation. All right, so the Laumspur potion that went into the empty backpack slot instead of rations healed more damage than was caused by my being unable to eat, but if I'd had a little warning that one of my Disciplines was about to be nerfed, I might have discarded some ballast to make room for a Meal and saved the potion for a more desperate situation. RIP and all that, but there were times when Joe Dever didn't entirely play fair.

Playing Shadow on the Sand without Mind Over Matter, I have to find a different way to distract the soldiers on the quay. Finding a conveniently abandoned bow and arrow, I manage to smash a bottle on a distant balcony (Weaponskill providing a bonus that makes the difference between success and failure). Alas, the next time my lack of Mind Over Matter comes into play, while I'm being pursued through the Zakhan's palace, the random number generator provides a result too poor for any bonus to compensate, and I wind up fatally riddled with crossbow bolts.

Returning to the save point I set up at the start of the book, I choose Mind Over Matter instead of Mindblast. Once I reach the sewers, I try a different route in the hope of reducing Healing-proof damage, and encounter a Kwaraz, the local equivalent of a sewer-dwelling alligator. Animal Kinship enables me to get the Kwaraz to ignore me, and before long a scream indicates that one of my pursuers ended up satisfying the reptile's appetite. Further on I reach a chamber where the sewage is much deeper, and while I could try to lasso a bit of metal that juts out of a chute that channels filth down here and try to swing across, swimming seems like a good way to contract the ailment that will enable me to avoid capture, so I try that instead, and get the desired outcome.

Climbing a different chimney so as to avoid the nest of spiders, I find myself at the mercy of the random number generator again, the penalty for having an infected arm not quite compensated for by the bonus for having Hunting. Still, I get a middling outcome, which means losing some Endurance, but not as much as if I'd got that number for the damage inflicted by spider bites in the other chimney.

A few minor variations in tactics once I'm again being chased through the palace make little difference, but attacking the guard I encounter on the stairs rather than trying to evade him enables me to dodge a little Healing-proof damage and chuck him off a balcony, which is a distinct improvement. It also gives me access to a bridge leading to a tower. I cross it and ascend, Drakkar warriors not far behind.

That's not the tower with the Itikar pens at the top. All there is up there is a big drum, used to send messages to other towers. But the drum is also good for rolling down stairs to crush pursuers, and the rope I opted not to use in the sewers enables me to descend to the palace gardens. Well, descend some of the way, and then a Drakkar makes it to the top of the tower and cuts the rope. Randomness determines that I land in a pool of water and take no damage, and from the garden I can get to the Itikar pens without encountering that check for Mind Over Matter that contributed to my death a few paragraphs ago.

After that, things largely go as they did on my previous successful attempt at the book. Except that, rather than narrowly surviving the fight against Darklord Haakon, I absolutely annihilate him. Not as tense a climax, but I'm not complaining.

Discussion at some point after my playthrough of The Kingdoms of Terror suggests that it was an error rather than a deliberate decision that, while the rules say Special Items can be carried across from preceding books, no mention is made of retaining Backpack Items. Given that a Potion I acquired in Kalte is guaranteed to improve my chances of surviving the toughest fight in book 11, and that it had been sitting around in a sealed room for 'many thousands of years' before I claimed it, making it unlikely that the passage of time since I found the bottle could have caused its contents to lose their effectiveness, I will definitely be hanging on to that.

Once I've temporarily saved Cyrilus' life and acquired him as a travelling companion, I decide to enter the archery contest that's taking place in a village we pass. Cyrilus declines to watch because he needs to dye his shirt red (well, that's not the reason he gives, but we know where this is going).

The first round involves firing three arrows at a target with rings numbered 0-9. A score of 8 or more is required to qualify for the next round, and thanks to the bonus for having Weaponmastery in bow, I beat that with my first arrow.

Only one other contestant makes it through to the final, which is conducted like a combat, except that damage is deducted from the one-off attribute Target points rather than Endurance, since we're not shooting at each other. On this occasion I consider it worth comparing the Mongoose text with the original, and there are a couple of differences that essentially cancel each other out: the reissue makes it clear that the Combat Skill bonus I get from having a shield does not apply in this contest, but also reduces my opponent's Combat Skill by the same amount as the bonus I don't get to use. Oddly, the bonus I get for wearing a helmet is not similarly negated, and the book says nothing to forbid using Mindblast during the contest, so if I were feeling unsportsmanlike, I could psychically assault the other contestant to improve my chances.

Oh, and the Mongoose artist has chosen to depict Altan, the bowman against whom I am contending, as Aragorn from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, presumably because the text says that he's a ranger.

Thanks to the imbalances in the Combat Results Table, the odds favour my winning even with the 6-point Combat Skill advantage that Altan has as things stand, so I opt not to use Mindblast, and despite getting a roughly even mix of high and low numbers during the contest, I win decisively. The prize is the Silver Bow of Duadon, a weapon which gives a hefty bonus any time randomness determines the outcome of my firing an arrow. Condescendingly, the Mongoose text not only specifies that this bonus is cumulative with the bonus for having Weaponmastery in bow, but also clarifies what the cumulative bonuses add up to, just in case players who had no trouble counting up to 8 or more a few sections back struggle to add 3 and 3.

Returning to where I left Cyrilus and my horse, I find that both are missing. Cyrilus' wooden staff lies on the ground close by, suggesting foul play, and by climbing onto a wagon I can spot that a group of six cavalrymen has stolen my horse and abducted Cyrilus. There's a horse hitched to the wagon, and I choose to seek its owner rather than just steal it, because I'm not a fan of the form of 'social justice' that favours punishing people who had nothing to do with the wrong that was committed. That and the fact that stealing the horse has a randomised outcome with a strong probability of a lethal result.

As it turns out, the horse belongs to Altan. He's not a sore loser, and congratulates me on my win before I can explain the situation. Once I let him know that I need his horse, he indicates his willingness to make a deal, glancing at the Silver Bow as he does. I'm not prepared to trade that, but he's also willing to take money or Special Items. In theory I could fob him off with a couple of bits of completely worthless tat, but I'm pretty sure that by now the diamond I picked up in Kalte and the golden key that unlocked the exit from the Graveyard of the Ancients are, in game terms, of no more use to me than a long-expired coach ticket and pass, so Altan gets some things he'd probably consider valuable in return for the horse, and wishes me well as I set off in pursuit of the horse-thieves and my doomed companion.

The chase goes much as it did after the fight against Roark's sister on my previous attempt, the only differences being that I use my new bow at the first opportunity rather than waiting to be spotted by the rearmost horseman, and the riders don't tell Roark I killed his sister (because this time round she never attacked me). I now know that the incidental damage incurred while fighting the undead summonation cannot be made good by Healing, but I can recover the Endurance by downing a healing potion, thereby freeing up a Backpack slot for one of the handsful of Combat Skill-enhancing Alether Berries I buy soon afterwards.

In Varetta I head down a different street, as there was nothing worthwhile to be gained on the one I previously took. The one I choose this time is full of mercenaries, and when I pause to offer a coin to a beggar-woman with a crying baby, one of them slaps her hand away and calls her a thieving hag. I ask him what he thinks he's doing, and he demonstrates that the woman has been using a hatpin to encourage the baby to cry. She hurriedly absents herself, and the mercenary asks me if I'm looking for work. We chat for a bit, and I gain an introduction to the Captain of his band of mercenaries - the same man I met after a couple of low-lifes tried to rob me on my previous attempt at the book.

After that things transpire much as they did when I last played Kingdoms. I avoid a couple of distractions, and the arrow I fire at a river pirate is on target, sparing me an unchallenging fight, but everything else is as before - including the fact that a door turns out to be the most formidable opponent I fight all book.

During the administrative phase that precedes playing Castle Death (character upgrades for having acquired the first Lorestone, selection of new equipment), I put some Backpack Items into storage – all the Alether and healing potions I’ve acquired, so they aren’t lost when my pack is unavoidably stolen at the end of the adventure, and a map I no longer need because why continue to lug it around when I no longer require it?

Things go much as they did on my previous attempt until I’ve killed the giant snake. Then I take the blanket that belonged to one of its victims, and find the way out of its lair before any eggs hatch. When the Beastmen enter the hall, I risk ambushing them. This doesn’t provide me with any clues about the right code to activate the hidden door in the sarcophagus, but looting the bodies does enable me to replace some of the arrows I lost falling into the snake’s lair.

Avoiding the sarcophagus, as the odds of guessing the correct combination are still low, and I’d like to do some healing before I get sent to the maze, I exit the hall, and soon reach a chamber in which a suspicious-looking beam of red light streams in from a hole in the ceiling. Twin iron doors lead onwards, but I'd have to go through the red light to reach them, and I don't want to risk summoning Roxanne or whatever, so I take the other way onwards. This leads (after an implausible length of time) to a room decorated with fine tapestries, with a small door leading out. Checking the tapestries in case any of them conceal alternative exits, I find that they're woven from gold and silver and decorated with jewels and semi-precious stones, and the text has me pilfer a diamond.

Beyond the door, I wind up gassed into unconsciousness, and face the same show trial as before. I do as before in the maze, because I know that that will enable me to escape, and this time round I have the blanket - not that the Combat Skill bonus it provides makes any difference under the circumstances. Following my escape from the maze, I stick with my previous approach up until I reach Zahda's throne, at which point I destroy the Deathstone before Lord Zahda knows I'm here.

After a failed attempt to use some sort of magic weapon against me, Zahda activates the anti-gravity beam and attempts to flee. I grab the Lorestone (thereby recovering the lost Endurance that Healing couldn't restore) and follow him into the light. Somehow I travel up it more quickly, soon catching up with Zahda, who attacks me with a glowing dagger. Thanks to the Sommerswerd, he doesn't even survive the first round of combat.

Before starting The Jungle of Horrors I get a new Backpack and a replacement Rope (my old one was in the pack that got unavoidably stolen at the end of the previous book), and retrieve a couple of the useful items I put into storage. I'm also temporarily putting the Dagger of Vashna into storage, because of the whole 'from this book onwards there's a limit to how many Special Items you can carry, and the author is going to fill up a fair bit of that carrying capacity with stuff you're not allowed to discard' thing.

In a slight departure from previous procedure, I take Nexus as my new Discipline, as the benefits of using Psi-surge were outweighed by the cost on my last two attempts at the book. I'll still pick Psi-surge next, as that'll complete a Lore-circle and give me an extra 3 Combat Skill in the lead-up to some of the series' nastier fights, but Nexus can be useful for more than just stat enhancement.

Long-term doomed companion Paido and I will travel by road rather than by barge, so I can check out a few paths not taken. For starters, when the weather takes a turn for the worse, we seek shelter in the inn rather than the mill, hoping that its inhabitants are less suspicious of strangers. We are greeted by the aroma of fresh baking, and a one-eyed dwarf welcomes us, inviting us to dry off by the fire and sample the establishment's fare. For some reason Mongoose illustrator Rich Longmore has chosen to depict the wheat cakes that are on offer as a cheese board.

I engage the innkeeper in conversation, and he talks about himself for a long while. When Paido turns the topic to recent developments, the dwarf speaks dismissively of Warlord Zegron, but one of the farmers comments that his sister thinks Zegron will cause a lot of harm this time. It seems that she's a Prophetess, given to making accurate predictions of bad news. I ask the farmer for more information about her, and he gives directions to her home (in a more precise, less human-sounding way in the Mongoose text) and says to tell her that Jako sent us, as she doesn't like uninvited visitors.

At Topham Abbey I again interact with the monks. Yes, I know they're enemies. I was never in any doubt that they were bad guys. That was why I chose to talk with them the last time I played the book, and why I'm still doing so now, even though I also know that the encounter will lead to my losing a Special Item slot to a completely pointless bit of ballast: I happen to think that leaving a cell of undead infiltrators to continue with whatever sabotage, subversion and other shenanigans they may be up to is a bad idea.

When we reach the house where the Prophetess Tadia lives, I name-drop Jako, and the text has me flatter the crone who opens the door by asking if she's Tadia. The real Tadia calls from within the house, telling her mother to let us in, as we are expected. Up the stairs we find a predictably beautiful young woman (or, judging by the Beaver Books illustration, an androgynous grump) with a telescope and lots of books. She reveals that she knows who I am, and I have to dissuade Paido from drawing his sword, as he seems not to get that being a Prophetess involves knowing stuff of which everyday folk are unaware.

Tadia tells me that the safest route to my goal is through the Mordril Forest, and offers me a selection of potions and weapons. The Mongoose text includes a number of minor tweaks, and on this occasion I think every one is an improvement. I take most of the potions - one to boost Combat Skill, one that heals more damage than standard healing potions, and one that doesn't heal so much, but is also effective against some diseases. I don't anticipate contracting anything, but I'd rather have the cure and not need it than vice versa.

Proceeding to Tharro, I buy the ring with unspecified magical qualities, and since the text gives me the option of selling off unwanted Special Items, I get rid of the Lodestone with which I was burdened at the Abbey. The book forced me to take it, but doesn't forbid ditching it now, so I might as well take what compensation I can for the annoyance.

When Paido and I are offered the poisoned stew in the Abbey, I eat a Meal from my Backpack rather than go hungry. This agitates the monks, and this time I notice something when the senior monk who's actually a disguised Helghast asks who's eaten: we are referred to as 'the Vakeros' and 'the Kai lord'. Now, it's possible that we had already revealed our identities for some reason - the text is vague about what (if any) dialogue precedes the offer of food - but this could also be a clue that the 'monks' know more about us than they have reason to.

For once I don't draw my bow, but the Helghast-monk still orders that the brothers be summoned. I'm almost tempted to check out the option for demanding that he let Paido and me leave unharmed, but going with a clearly bad idea just to see what happens immediately before a fight that's already killed one Lone Wolf seems less than clever, so I draw the Sommerswerd and attack.

Incidentally, while contributing to online discussion of this book elsewhere, I discovered a peculiarity in the Helghast's stats. I have known for some time that its Combat Skill varies depending on the weapon you use against it, and just accepted that that reflected the creature's defences being better against Kai enchantments than Vakeros ones (since players without the Sommerswerd need to use Paido's sword to be able to harm the Helghast). However, it turns out to be more complex (and nonsensical) than I had thought. The Helghast has 38 Combat Skill against a Sommerswerd-wielding Lone Wolf, and just 28 if you have to borrow Paido's sword - but only as long as you don't eat the stew. If you do eat it but have the means of surviving the poison, the Helghast has 34 Combat Skill regardless of your weapon. The difference in its Combat Skill could be explained away for players using Paido's sword - you're still recovering from the poison, and the Helghast's higher Combat Skill reflects the impairment of your fighting skills caused by the side-effects. But a player using the Sommerswerd has an easier fight when debilitated by the poison. As the Heghast might put it, 'Teg moggador?'

Typical! That's the first time since I've been keeping track of such things that I would have been better off using Psi-surge during the fight. Nevertheless, I survived and the Helghast didn't. When the other monks arrive, I attack them because my Endurance is so low. That might seem a bit counter-intuitive, but I know that fleeing will definitely result in my taking damage - potentially enough to kill me - while the various boosts I have to Combat Skill give me decent odds of losing less Endurance in a fight against this mob. As it turns out, I wipe them out without taking a scratch.

Other monks are still on the hunt, so I flee, hide, heal Paido, and flee some more as before. In the Mordril Forest my Silver Bow enables me to shoot the Anapheg before it's finished crossing the bridge. In its death throes it pulls the horse I'm riding over the edge, and Huntmastery ensures that I avoid getting dragged down with it. The horse Paido's riding also plunges to its doom (perhaps giving in to peer pressure), but he dismounts in time to not need rescuing.

At night I have Paido take the first watch, and get a much better rest than when he slept first. The following day, Nexus confirms what I theorised last time - noxious gas on the path I didn't take. I go the same way as before - the gas won't bother me, but why make things uncomfortable for Paido? That's a rhetorical question, I hasten to add: I know that some of Paido's detractors can get quite vociferous, and wouldn't want any of them to take it as an invitation to post an essay in the comments explaining why they believe he deserves to suffer.

Randomness determines that before reaching the temple we seek, Paido and I have a run-in with a giant spider (depicted better in the Mongoose edition than the original). I shoot an arrow into one of its eyes and hurt it badly enough to avoid a fight. After that things transpire as before.

Before I get going in The Cauldron of Fear, I go back to where I keep excess cash and other belongings, drop off some things I no longer need (some of which I never did, but was forced to lug around anyway), and put the Sommerswerd into storage while retrieving the Dagger of Vashna.

When Banedon and I get to the wonky signpost, I remember that I don't have Pathsmanship, and thus am not in a position to note that it's pointing the wrong way, but I take the correct turning anyway because the text gives me the option of doing so and I have the Gamebook Blogger Discipline of Metaknowledge.

As before, the Tahouese President votes in my favour, so Chil sabotages my descent into the Cauldron. This time the random number generator (combined with the bonus for having Nexus) ensures that I drown (in the 'got the section numbers the wrong way round' original text) or have no difficulty making it to the surface of the lake and swimming ashore (in the definitely improved (at least here) Mongoose edit).

Metaknowledge reminds me that there's no way of avoiding the fight with the Psi-Ghoul, so I take the initiative and attack it, gaining a bonus to Combat Skill for my preparedness. Then, when I first encounter the Crocaryx, I try to get close to them without attracting attention, but I don't have Invisibility, and consequently make a noise treading on the gravel that covers the floor, startling the locals as much as if I'd called out to them anyway.

Kai Principalins (at least) who chose Invisibility, apparently.

After that things transpire much as before until the climactic confrontation, where I fall foul of the 1 in 10 chance of failing to hit the Zakhan with the Dagger, and get a rather large hole burned through my thorax. Reload save, go back to the start of the book.

On my next attempt I just speak to the Crocaryx and scare them that way. Once back in Tahou, I miss my shot when trying to snipe a Drakkar, take a fair bit of damage fighting a few of his buddies, and am fatally crushed by a large stone hurled from a catapult because I didn't want to risk leaping onto a speeding wagon, and there was no warning of the probable consequences (60% chance of Instant Death unless you have the Lore-circle I was going to complete next). Back to the beginning again.

My next try sees the President vote against me, prompting Chil to call for my arrest. I flee, and a guard throws a net at me. Randomness determines the outcome, with a modifier or two. Neither text indicates whether the possible modifiers are cumulative, but since it's impossible to get the second bonus without qualifying for the first one, it seems likely that I'm only supposed to be able to claim one. I'm a little surprised that the Mongoose edition doesn't clear up the exploitable ambiguity, though.

In any case, regardless of bonus, I evade the net and hurl myself down a flight of stairs. Three soldiers armed with wooden staves attempt to intercept me, and I hurt them and continue on my way. A corridor leads to the busy entrance hall, where a couple of halberd-wielding soldiers have yet to learn that there's a fugitive in the building. But through a window I can see the carriage in which I travelled here, and the Law of Heroic Exits demands that I depart in a shower of broken glass if at all possible.

A warning about the thickness of the glass suggests that Joe Dever might have chosen not to uphold that law, so I change my plan and prepare to bring a little excitement into those two soldiers' lives. Very little excitement, as it turns out: the noise of the crowd prevents them from hearing my approach, and I'm gone before they have time to wonder who the green-cloaked man who just raced past them might be, or why I should be in such a hurry.

I take refuge in the area known as the Parish of Thieves, inexplicably aware that a Guard Captain with a telescope saw my escape and has sent a squad of his best men after me. Ducking into a crowded tavern, I pick an out-of-the-way seat, only to find that it has already been claimed by a patron who's just on his way back from the bar. He threatens me (self-aggrandisingly introducing himself as he does, thereby showing himself to be Sogh, the protagonist of the Mongoose edition's mini-adventure), but before I can decide how to respond, that squad of guards bursts through the doors.

Assuming that this is just an ordinary tavern raid, most of those present stampede towards the exit, while Sogh heads for a less obvious archway. Inferring that he has the sort of local knowledge that could prove invaluable in this situation, I follow him and ask for help, and he demands my money pouch in return for his assistance. Not having a lot of choice, I pay up.

Sogh leads me through a secret door into a passage which leads via the sewers to another concealed exit. Beyond is a ridiculously opulent chamber (the mounds of treasure are understandable, but how does a hidden room right next to a sewer have fragrant breezes wafting through it?), in which a fancily-dressed senior thief dozes on a couch. Waking, the man berates Sogh for bringing an outsider here, suggests I might be a spy or an assassin, and uses a magical gem to probe my mind. Not even my Psi-screen (inaccurately referred to as Psi-shield in the original text, though Mongoose fixed that error) can keep him from compelling me to reveal my identity, though it does at least keep me from taking any damage.

Once I've explained my circumstances, the man (who also does the clunky 'refer to himself in the third person' thing to let me know that he's Maghana the Guildmaster) reveals that there are routes to the subterranean city other than the Cauldron, which he has used to send many thieves to retrieve ancient loot or die in the attempt. He's willing to show me one of the shafts leading to Zaaryx, on condition that, should I discover the corpse of his son (who went down there in search of gold a few months back), I retrieve the ring on the body's right hand and return it to Maghana. That seems pretty trivial for an offer I can't refuse, but given that (as far as I know) the only ring that can be found down there is the Psychic one worn by the Psi-Ghoul, there is more to the request than Maghana is letting on.

I accept his terms, and he leads me to a room containing tables laden with equipment for expeditions into the lost city. Maghana opens another secret door, this one opening onto darkness and the stench of decay, and invites me to help myself to anything from the tables that might be of assistance. The list of items on offer is similar to the one in Chil's warehouse, and again the Mongoose text has rearranged the list without sorting the items into a significantly more logical order.

Turning my attention to the newly revealed exit, I see that a rope ladder leads down into the void below. I haul the ladder up to check it, which takes some effort, as it's around 400 feet long (just under 122m). It's going to be a long climb - but the only way is down.

For some time I descend. The wind blows the ladder against an unseen outcrop of rock, causing me to lose my grip, and modified randomness determines what happens next. Not for the first time, the text specifies 'or' when 'and/or' would be more appropriate when listing the Disciplines that could improve my odds (and Mongoose didn't fix that minor bug), but I get a score in the optimal range even before bonuses can come into play. Regaining my grip in the nick of time, I wait for the ladder to become steadier, and then go on climbing.

Eventually I reach the bottom of the ladder. Which is not also the bottom of the shaft. There is a ledge somewhere vaguely close-ish, but I have still have the Rope I got at the start of Jungle, so I tie that to the bottom of the ladder and use that to get down to solid ground around twenty feet below. Nearby are the remains of someone who failed to survive the descent. The body is more decayed than I'd expect the Guildmaster's son to be, but I check it out anyway. There are no rings on any of the dead man's fingers, and his pack shows signs of having been looted.

A tunnel slopes down from the chamber I've reached, so I proceed along that.  An earth tremor causes the roof to crack, showering me with dust and rubble, and if I didn't have Nexus, I'd now be turning to section 291. As it is, I'm able to avoid breathing in any of the more harmful components of the dust cloud.

Another tremor makes me lose my footing, sliding down the rest of the tunnel to land beside a subterranean lake, and the mouth of the tunnel caves in to ensure that I can't turn back. This is, of course, the same lake into which I would have plunged if the President had approved my request to access the Cauldron, so I'm back on familiar ground for the rest of the adventure.

Once I'm back above ground, I decide to accompany the Captain whom I assisted in the burning building. As he's driving his wagon towards the North Tower, I catch sight of Banedon atop a tower we'll be passing, and ask to disembark. The Captain refuses to even slow down, and Divination tells me that staying with him is liable to prove fatal, so I jump off before the inevitable crash. More randomness determines how well I land, and this time I fare poorly even with the bonus for having the right Discipline. Still, knees and chins can heal (even if Healing won't do it), and while the book doesn't mention the obligatory solitary wheel rolling away from the wreck of the wagon, I'm sure it's there in the background as I pick myself up.

This time I don't miss when hurling the Dagger at the Zakhan, and can move on to The Dungeons of Torgar. Between books I recover the Sommerswerd, the Alether potion from Kalte, the last of the Oede herb from Vassagonia, and what cash I had put into safe keeping. If I hadn't needed to replay Cauldron twice, I might have had another try at avenging Cyrilus on the more dangerous route through the book, but with the end of the month looming, I'll just go the easiest way. Which is bad news for Sebb Jarel, but business as usual for me.

Only a few things happen differently from on my last successful attempt at this book. Thanks to the Silver Bow, I kill the attacking wolf with a single arrow (and the Mongoose edit makes its death slightly more graphic). When Jarel and I make camp on an island, a few Bhakish (piscine humanoids) attack while I’m on watch during the night. An arrow takes care of one of them, and the creature’s dying screams wake Sebb, who fights alongside me to make short work of the others. We dispose of the corpses in the water, which causes something of a feeding frenzy among the local aquatic predators, as a result of which we do not have a restful night, which costs Endurance.

Outside Torgar, when Adamas tosses a coin to determine which of us plants the explosive, I call ‘Heads’, thereby getting the mission myself. A Mongoose edit fixes one oddity in the text: originally, if you call tails, you win the toss and Adamas has to take the risk, but if you call heads, you win the toss and consequently get to face the danger. Post-edit, the coin comes down tails regardless of what you choose, and it's consistently the loser who undertakes the perilous task.

Randomness with modifiers determines how I fare while trying to dodge enemy missiles on my way to the door. This time the book makes it clear that the bonuses are cumulative (and Mongoose adds a minor penalty for having a low Endurance, which doesn’t affect me, but is a more significant edit than many). I get a middling outcome, which means that a hurled rock injures me, but I plant the device and make it back to cover in the nick of time. Mongoose again tweak the description of how narrowly I make it, this time turning ‘just’ to ‘hardly’.

The random number check at the top of the stairs has me successfully conceal myself from the Drakkar officer, as a result of which I don’t get his key. Still, Nexus allows me to pick the lock, and if I didn’t have that, I could try picking it with a dagger. I’m carrying the Dagger of Vashna, but I don’t get to employ the spirit of the baddest Darklord of all time as a lockpick, because the Nexus check comes first, and there’s no ‘if you wish to use it’, so I have no choice but to use the Discipline. A pity, but Nexus has been too useful since I acquired it to be worth skipping for the sake of mildly humiliating a long-dead villain.

Playing the books close together reminds me of something. Back at the end of Jungle I was told that Paido and I would meet and fight again, side by side. Back when I previously won that book at this blog, I expressed my doubts about the accuracy of that prediction, and what happens after I rescue Paido? Divination makes us hide from the Death Knights, the creatures around the portal to the Daziarn run away as soon as they see us, and Gnaag destroys the gantry on which I’m climbing without either of us engaging in combat. So much for fighting side by side.

Moving on to Echoes of Lost Light, I decide to risk taking the route I did on my first two attempts at the adventure rather than the one that I tried when I won. Partly because I'm curious about paths not taken, and partly because I'm going into the adventure with a diminished Endurance (thanks to lack of sleep and a hurled rock), and the only opportunity to recover any of which I am aware is on that path.

The best laid plans... On this occasion I fail to create the first bridge, and wind up having to go via the keep anyway. After killing my ambushers, I decide to investigate the signs of movement visible through the damaged door, and find a dead Drakkar, which some of the local rats have identified as food. A hallway leads onwards, but the ceiling looks unstable, so I look for an alternative route, and see indications that something has dragged several corpses through a hole in the floor.

Combat damage heals more easily than wounds inflicted by falling debris, so I go through the hole. The text tries to encourage me to turn back, but I persist, eventually reaching a chamber where a Giak is cooking an assortment of body parts in a cauldron, watched over by a couple of akataz hounds. Time to spoil the broth, I think.

The fight has a potentially interesting wrinkle, wasted on such an easy battle. The Giak sets the akataz on me, and yells to provoke their bloodlust. In each successive round they gain a point of Combat Skill owing to his provocation. At any point I may shoot him with an arrow, causing the akataz to revert to their base Combat Skill, but inflicting no Endurance damage on them during the round in which I kill their master. Against a mid-range opponent this could be a bit of a balancing act, but since I can (and do) kill the akataz in the very first round, there's never any need to decide whether or not it's worth prolonging the fight by a round in order to keep my opponents from becoming too serious a threat.

A ladder leads back up, taking me to the first gap between city fragments on this path. As a consequence of having failed to create a bridge once, I don't get to pick a random number this time. Instead, I concentrate extra hard, bringing the bridge into existence but taking damage from the effort. After that I do the same as previously for a bit, but avoid the not-yet-dead enemy with the blasting weapon.

When skirting the marketplace the random number generator gives me the least likely outcome. While distribution of numbers would suggest that it's a middling result, that seems not to be the case. Urged by some impulse towards a sausage-vendor's stall, I find that the deceased proprietor wears a medallion, depicting Lone Wolf's god in the garb of a local warrior. It gives off a faint light, and I decide to take it. And it appears that the medallion would help me overcome the final void if I had no other means of getting past it, but as I have the required Discipline at the appropriate level, that takes precedence.

The climactic battle is no real challenge, especially as this time round I made sure to take Hammer as one of my bonus Weaponmastery proficiencies when levelling up at the end of a previous book. Mandatory Endurance expenditure has left me in a less than ideal condition, so there's a slim possibility that I won't survive to the first full restoration of health in the next book, but I think I'll give my next attempt at The Prisoners of Time its own post rather than make this entry any longer, so that's a concern for another day.