by Joe Dever
You survive the fall but the strength of the venom ensures that you will never escape from the shaft.
Your life and your quest end here.
344
With devastating speed and accuracy, you draw your Arrows and fire them deep into the hearts of the two enemy archers. Both men stagger and crumple to the ground, but your bowmanship does little to deter their comrades. With a fearsome yell, the three remaining warriors brandish their swords and axes and come thundering towards you. There is no time to evade their attack — you must fight them to the death!
Illustration XIX—The three remaining warriors brandish their swords and axes and come thundering towards you.
Zagganozod: COMBAT SKILL 20 ENDURANCE 32
If you win the combat, turn to 271.
345
On the other side of the alley is a line of burnt-out cottages. Their soot-blackened walls are mostly intact, although their roofs have long been open to the sky. The fleeing Drakkarim are beginning to outdistance your men and you fear they will get away, when suddenly they halt and turn to face you.
At that instant a mass of leather-clad Hammerlanders emerge from the cottages, rending the air with their howling battle-cries. They strike your men from every side, catching them like helpless fish in a barrel.
If you wish to stand and fight your attackers, turn to 288.
If you wish to try to escape from this ambush, turn to 16.
346
A group of high-ranking warriors are gathered around a table on which lies a map of Ghatan and the Hammerlands. They are engrossed in their plans for an assault across the causeway and they do not notice you enter the tent. The officer speaks with one of the lords, who leaves the table to come and question you.
‘Welcome, Pathfinder,’ he says, his keen eyes glinting like two polished gemstones. ‘I am Adamas, Lord Constable of Garthen, commander-in-chief of the Talestrian army. What news do you bring from Eru?’
Rather than risk raising his suspicions, you tell him of the Eruan-Lencian alliance and their successful struggle against the forces of Baron Shinzar of Blackshroud. He listens with interest to your report, and then he asks how you came to be 200 miles from Prince Graygor's army.
If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Divination, turn to 86.
If you do not possess this skill, you can either say that you are on a secret mission; turn to 158.
Or reveal your true identity; turn to 290.
347
The shouts of the Drakkarim and the rain of their arrows unnerve the guards. They fear it is the prelude to a night attack, and when they see a black-clad figure stumbling towards them and hear him give the wrong password, they panic. ‘Enemy attack!’ they shout, waking a unit of crossbowmen stationed on the high ground behind. They rush to grab their loaded weapons and take aim at the enemy, but the only target they can see is you. ‘Fire at will!’ commands their sergeant.
A scything wave of iron bolts lifts you off your feet and a terrifying pain tears through your chest. You are mortally wounded and, although you fight to hold on to life, it is a struggle you cannot win.
Your life and your quest end here.
348
When you are halfway down the staircase a shadow looms into view. Seconds later a Drakkarim officer appears and begins to ascend. He is the most repugnant human being you have ever seen. His enormous bloated body bulges with over-developed muscles to the point of deformity and his face is puffy and fat, shiny with sweat, and pitted with disease. A battle wound on his right cheek has scarred badly, drawing that side of his face into an ugly sneer. He sees you and unsheathes a massive, saw-edged scimitar as he strides up the stairs and attacks.
Illustration XX—A Drakkarim officer appears — the most repugnant human being you have ever seen.
Drakkarim Assault-captain: COMBAT SKILL 31 ENDURANCE 35
If you win the combat, turn to 177.
349
Your Arrow passes clean through the creature's mouth, tearing a jagged hole in its furry jowl. The beast shrieks at the sudden pain and shakes its head, spraying you with thick crimson blood. Maddened by the pain, it snaps its great fangs and rolls its grim yellow eyes as it steadies itself to pounce on you and exact its revenge.
Hurriedly you drop your Bow and unsheathe a hand weapon as the wolf springs towards your chest.
Taintor Wolf: COMBAT SKILL 25 ENDURANCE 42
If you win and the fight lasts four rounds or less, turn to 202.
If the fight lasts longer than four rounds, do not continue the combat but turn instead to 234.
350
‘Vengeance is mine, Lone Wolf!’ booms the thunderous voice. Terror strikes deep in your heart when you turn and see the ghastly form of Darklord Gnaag, filling the archway through which his minions escaped when first you entered this chamber. A ghastly rasping laugh echoes from his fly-like head as he raises a black crystal and points it at the gantry. ‘The vow I gave at Tahou shall be fulfilled. Now I shall destroy you and the Lorestones!’
There is a deafening crack and a bolt of blue lightning streaks from the stone held in his pincer-like claw. It shears through the rusty metal and you are peppered with red-hot iron splinters. As the shock wave hits the weakened ball of fire, the two Lorestones are sent tumbling into the black abyss. Then a second bolt from the black stone tears the gantry in two, and with the ghastly laugh of Darklord Gnaag ringing in your ears, you plummet headlong into the icy cold pit.
You have fallen into a portal of total darkness, a Shadow Gate that leads to the twilight world of Daziarn. The wisdom and strength of the Lorestone of Luomi is now a part of your body and spirit, and the last remaining Lorestones are still within your reach, but your descent into the Daziarn heralds the beginning of a deadly, supernatural episode of the Magnakai Quest.
If you have the courage of a true Kai master, the wonders and the horrors of the twilight plane await you in Book 11, the penultimate Magnakai adventure, entitled:
The Prisoners of Time
Numbered Sections
1-10: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11-20: 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21-30: 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31-40: 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41-50: 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51-60: 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
61-70: 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70
71-80: 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
81-90: 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90
91-100: 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
101-110: 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110
111-120: 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120
121-130: 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130
131-140: 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140
141-150: 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
151-160: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160
161-170: 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170
171-180: 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180
181-190: 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190
191-200: 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
201-210: 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210
211-220: 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220
221-230: 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230
231-240: 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240
241-250: 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250
251-260: 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260
261-270: 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270
271-280: 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280
281-290: 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290
291-300: 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300
301-310: 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310
311-320: 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320
321-330: 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330
331-340: 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340
34
1-350: 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350
Ghatan and Surrounding Territories
Action Chart
Combat Rules Summary
Add your COMBAT SKILL to any extra points given to you by your Magnakai Disciplines.
Subtract the COMBAT SKILL of your enemy from this total. This number = Combat Ratio.
Pick a number from the Random Number Table.
Turn to the Combat Results Table.
Find your Combat Ratio on the top of the chart and cross-reference to the random number you have picked. (E indicates loss of ENDURANCE points to Enemy. LW indicates loss of ENDURANCE points to Lone Wolf.)
Continue the combat from Stage 3 until one character is dead. This is when the ENDURANCE points of either character falls to 0 or below.
To Evade Combat
You may only do this when the text of the adventure offers you the opportunity.
You undertake one round of combat in the usual way. All points lost by the enemy are ignored; only Lone Wolf loses the ENDURANCE points.
If the book offers the chance of taking evasive action in place of combat, it can be taken in the first round of combat or any subsequent round.
Combat Results Table
Random Number Table
Errata
Introduction
We have taken our unique opportunity to correct errors and to enforce a standard of English usage. We list our changes here. If you see anything that needs correction, please contact the Project Aon Staff.
Errata List
(Blurb) Replaced ‘THE DUNGEONS OF TORGAR’ with ‘The Dungeons of Torgar’. Replaced ‘lorestone’ with ‘Lorestone’. Replaced ‘lorestones’ with ‘Lorestones’.
(The Story So Far) Removed the quotation marks from ‘koura-tas-kai’. Replaced ‘Kai monastery’ with ‘Kai Monastery’. Replaced ‘counter-attack’ with ‘counterattack’. Replaced ‘gods’ with ‘Gods’. Replaced ‘Cloeasia, then’ with ‘Cloeasia, and then’. Replaced ‘purpose and’ with ‘purpose, and’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘Darklord armies’ with ‘Darkland armies’.
(The Game Rules) Removed ‘that you will find in the front of this book. For further adventuring you can copy out the chart yourself or get it photocopied’. Placed ‘or below’ after ‘fall to zero’. Replaced both occurrences of ‘ie,’ with ‘i.e.’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘Lone Wolf’ with ‘Lone Wolf’ when referring to the series. Replaced ‘Chart (you’ with ‘Chart. (You’. Replaced ‘Items).’ with ‘Items.)’. Replaced ‘on to’ with ‘onto’. Replaced ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’ with ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’.
(Magnakai Disciplines) Added ‘The fact that you are skilled with three Weapons does not mean that you begin the adventure carrying any of them. However, you will have opportunities to acquire Weapons during your adventure. For every Lone Wolf book that you complete in the Magnakai series, you may add an additional Weapon to your list.’ to the description of Weaponmastery. This text is taken directly from the Weaponmastery section found in The Kingdoms of Terror. Added ‘(Psi-surge and Mindblast cannot be used simultaneously.)’ to the description of Psi-surge. Replaced ‘knowledge mastery’ with ‘knowledge that mastery’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘Lone Wolf’ with ‘Lone Wolf’ when referring to the series. Replaced ‘weapons list’ with ‘Weapons List’. Replaced ‘two weapons’ with ‘two Weapons’. Replaced ‘blindness and’ with ‘blindness, and’. Replaced ‘roots and’ with ‘roots, and’. Replaced ‘will be of use’ with ‘may be of use’. Added ‘If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Weaponmastery with Bow, you may add 3 to any number that you choose from the Random Number Table, when using the Bow.’ from the Equipment section. Replaced ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’ with ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’.
(Equipment) Removed ‘(see the inside front cover of this book)’. Replaced ‘currency of Anari’ with ‘currency of Eru’. Replaced ‘1 Gold Crown’ with ‘one Gold Crown’. Replaced all occurrences of ‘safe-keeping’ with ‘safekeeping’. Replaced all three occurrences of ‘Kai monastery’ with ‘Kai Monastery’. Replaced all occurrences of ‘bow’ with ‘Bow’. Replaced all occurrences of ‘arrow’ with ‘Arrow’. Replaced all occurrences of ‘arrows’ with ‘Arrows’. Replaced ‘quiver’ with ‘Quiver’. Replaced ‘Weaponmastery with a bow’ with ‘Weaponmastery with Bow’. Replaced ‘combat, therefore’ with ‘combat; therefore’. Replaced ‘two weapons’ with ‘two Weapons’. Replaced ‘your list’ with ‘your Weaponmastery Checklist’. Deleted ‘If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Weaponmastery with Bow, you may add 3 to any number that you choose from the Random Number Table, when using the Bow.’. Replaced ‘the Elder Magi give you’ with ‘the Senate of Tahou give you’ to agree with Section 1. Added ‘You may only use one Weapon at a time in combat.’ in harmony with the Collector's Edition. Added ‘Potion of Alether (Backpack Items) This potion of strength will increase your COMBAT SKILL by +2 points when swallowed immediately prior to a combat. It lasts for the duration of one combat only. There is enough for one dose.’ to the list of items you may choose from in harmony with the Collector's Edition.
(Rules for Combat) Removed ‘on the inside back cover of the book’. Replaced ‘on the page after the Random Number Table’ with ‘in the back of this book’. Replaced ‘reduced to zero’ with ‘reduced to zero or below’. Replaced ‘points reduced’ with ‘points possibly reduced’. Replaced ‘at which point the one with the zero score is declared dead.’ with ‘at which point that combatant is declared dead.’.
(Levels of Magnakai Training) Replaced ‘rank and titles’ with ‘ranks and titles’. Replaced ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’ with ‘Lone Wolf Magnakai’.
(Lore-circles of the Magnakai) Capitalized ‘bonuses’ in the title ‘Lore-circle Bonuses’.
(Improved Disciplines) Replaced both occurrences of ‘eg’ with ‘e.g.’. Italicised ‘Lone Wolf’ when referring to the series. Replaced ‘venoms or’ with ‘venoms, or’. Replaced ‘sacrifice or a’ with ‘sacrifice, or a’.
(Magnakai Wisdom) Replaced ‘The restoration of the Kai and the future of your homeland depends’ with ‘The restoration of the Kai and the future of your homeland depend’.
(1) Replaced ‘mid-summer's’ with ‘midsummer's’. Replaced ‘much-publicized’ with ‘much publicized’. Replaced ‘elite’ with ‘élite’. Deleted ‘at the front of the book’. Capitalised both occurrences of ‘prince’. Replaced ‘tavern and’ with ‘tavern, and’.
(4) Replaced ‘Principalin or more’ with ‘Principalin or higher’. Replaced ‘Tutelary or more’ with ‘Tutelary or higher’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘Magnakai rank’ with ‘Kai rank’ for consistency with the rest of the series. Replaced ‘skills, or’ with ‘skills or’.
(6) Replaced ‘Lone Wolf’ with ‘Lone Wolf’. Added a period to the end of the illustration's caption. Replaced ‘Drakkar fortress’ with ‘Drakkarim fortress’ to reflect standard usage.
(7) Replaced ‘sixth sense’ with ‘Sixth Sense’. Replaced ‘briefly, then’ with ‘briefly, and then’. Replaced ‘click’ with ‘click’.
(8) Replaced ‘bow and’ with ‘Bow and’.
(9) Replaced ‘battle smoke’ with ‘battle-smoke’.
(11) Replaced ‘delete this weapon’ with ‘delete this Weapon’.
(14) Replaced ‘Adamas's hand’ with ‘Adamas' hand’.
(18) Replaced ‘Primate or more’ with ‘Primate or higher’.
(19) Replaced ‘Magnakai rank’ with ‘Kai rank’ for consistency with the rest of the series. Replaced ‘skill or have’ with ‘skill, or if you have’.
(20) Replaced ‘on to’ with ‘onto’. Replaced ‘as if his body was’ with ‘as if his body were’.
(22) Replaced ‘bow and’ with ‘Bow and’. Replaced ‘arrow’ with ‘Arrow’. Replaced ‘phosphorous’ with ‘phosphorus’.
(23) Replaced ‘bushes and make’ with ‘bushes, and make’.
(26) Replaced ‘bow and’ with ‘Bow and’.
(28) Added a period to the e
nd of the illustration's caption.
(32) Replaced ‘shoulder and primes’ with ‘shoulder, and primes’.
(33) Replaced ‘bow’ with ‘Bow’.
(35) Replaced ‘sway, then’ with ‘sway, and then’.
(36) Replaced each occurrence of ‘arrow’ with ‘Arrow’.
(43) Replaced ‘backpack’ with ‘Backpack’.
(44) Replaced ‘Drakkar sniper’ with ‘Drakkarim sniper’ to reflect standard usage.
(47) Replaced ‘Drakkar officer’ with ‘Drakkarim officer’ to reflect standard usage.
(51) Added a period to the end of the illustration's caption. Replaced ‘red beard and’ with ‘red beard, and’.
(52) Replaced ‘bow and’ with ‘Bow and’.
(54) Replaced ‘rock face’ with ‘rock-face’. Added ‘You may not use the Silver Bow of Duadon in this combat (if you possess this Special Item). If you have reached the rank of Tutelary and possess the Discipline of Weaponmastery, you only need deduct 2 points from your COMBAT SKILL if you do not possess a weapon-like Special Item.’ in harmony with the Collector's Edition.
(56) Replaced ‘death cry’ with ‘death-cry’. Replaced ‘your shoulder and’ with ‘your shoulder, and’.
(59) Replaced ‘bow and’ with ‘Bow and’.
(60) Replaced ‘hornet's nest’ with ‘hornets' nest’.
(61) Replaced ‘sixth sense’ with ‘Sixth Sense’.
(62) Replaced ‘rope and’ with ‘Rope and’.
(63) Replaced ‘The hail of arrows and the sight of your black-clad form lurching towards them makes’ with ‘The hail of arrows and the sight of your black-clad form lurching towards them make’.
