The Defenders of Dusk

by Dane Barrett

  “You wouldn't happen to have a-”

  “A spare bow?” Zabel interrupts. “Of course. You didn't think you were just going to be a flag-bearer, I hope.”

  “Why do you always seem to have so much spare equipment?”

  “I steal things from the quartermaster. It turns out I'm a thief.” Turn to 303.

  157

  You carefully scale one of the pillars supporting the platform, keeping your boots tightly pinned against the flat of the wood while curling your hands around the shaft, allowing you to scurry up like an animal. Once on top of the platform, you edge your way over to the shed and peer inside. A helmeted orc sentry is standing guard beside a window at the far end of the interior, using the enclosure as a vantage point to look down upon the cavern courtyard. From his positioning, you guess his primary function is to keep watch on whoever is emerging from the far entrance, though his uncommitted countenance suggests he is doing a poor job of it. Behind the orc is a table, on which sits a crossbow, some jaggedly-cut bolts, a meal of cheese and a bottle filled with an amber liquid. Now and then the orc takes a step back, and each time he does so, the floorboards creak loudly under his weight. You don't fancy your odds on sneaking up to his flank, but you might be able to think of some other way to silence him. Choose one of the following attributes to use in this situation:

  INTELLIGENCE: If you choose this, roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your INTELLIGENCE, turn to 205. If it is higher, or you do not wish to use this attribute, you may choose one of the other attributes instead.

  STRENGTH: If you choose this, roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your STRENGTH, turn to 267. If it is higher, or you do not wish to use this attribute, you may choose one of the other attributes instead.

  AGILITY: If you choose this, roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your AGILITY, turn to 278. If it is higher, or you do not wish to use this attribute, you may choose one of the other attributes instead. If you do not wish to use any of the attributes above, or you roll higher than each attribute on all three dice rolls, you will have no choice but to try and rush the guard (turn to 326).

  158

  With one final shove of the sharpened candlestick, you pierce the weapon deep into the Wight's chest, exposing a mixture of decayed insides and maggots which spill out where blood and organs would once have thrived. You turn to help fight off the last of the skeletons, but they too have become lifeless with the fall of their master. Write down the keyword DEAD. While Xanth keeps a watch at the tent's entrance flap, you reclaim your longsword from where it fell before stepping over to the table to make an examination of the papers the General was overseeing when you came in. The most prominent feature is a large map with small wooden markers laid out on top of it. Alongside is what appears to be a letter fluttering in the breeze with a metal armband weighing it down. Finally, there is an ornate knife with a curved blade laying atop a pile of documents. Will you examine the map (turn to 256), read the letter (turn to 230) or pick up the knife (turn to 40)?

  159

  You gently lower yourself into the fire trench and, gripping the rock as best you can, begin to shimmy yourself along the length of the yard. Your arms strain with the weight of your gear, and heat from below builds an uncomfortable warmth within your boots. You have made it about halfway across the pit when you detect a presence lurking above you. One of the Gekka guards has approached the firepit to warm his hands, and while he isn't looking inside the trench, you cannot continue moving while he is standing there. Your arms ache furiously with the strain of holding on. Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your STRENGTH, turn to 163. If the dice roll is higher than your STRENGTH, then you cannot stand the pain or the heat any longer, and must scramble out of the trench in plain sight of the guard (turn to 150).

  160

  You explain to the Wizard that you have accomplished little within the city so far, as rescuing him and the Mayor was your first priority. Ullucus snaps his fingers together, lays his pipe down on a nearby table and rushes out of the room, demanding that one of the Mayor's personal guards leaves to seek out certain ingredients he will require for a spot of alchemy. After the guard departs, the Wizard returns to your side to explain what he is up to.

  “I am flattered you thought so much of me,” he says while stroking his beard. “Though I would have perhaps attempted to intercept those who would pollute our water supply before coming to my aid. It matters not, however, as it may not be too late to assist you on that front. I know of the mind control dust our enemies intend to add to the water supply. By now it is likely to have been deployed into the underground river, so I will need to create an agent with which to neutralise it. While I can guarantee its effectiveness, it can only do its job if tipped directly into the same place where the dust was added to the water supply. Locating that place must fall to you, my friend.” A few minutes later, a very tired-looking guard returns with everything Ullucus asked for, and the Wizard sets to work creating his potion. He is soon finished and, with a puff of blue smoke which you're not sure was entirely necessary, he hands you a small vial sealed tightly with a cork stopper. “The rest is up to you,” says the Wizard, patting you roughly on your back. “Do be careful out there!” Write down the keyword CLEAN. Restore 2 points of lost HEALTH as you can take a rest before undertaking your next mission. Return to 362 and choose another option, remembering to cross off any locations already visited.

  161

  A quick glance out of the gloom reveals the soldier is facing the same direction as your immediate approach, making it more difficult to avoid being seen once you step out from the shadows. Roll 2 dice and add 1 to the roll. If the result is equal to or lower than your AGILITY, turn to 196. If the dice roll is higher than your AGILITY, turn to 177.

  162

  You crawl out of the window and hop, as lightly as possible, onto the dilapidated balcony. You feel the platform jolt beneath you, sending dust cascading down to the street like hourglass sand. You creep onward, keeping your hands close to the boarded entrance in case you need to grab something urgently. You successfully reach the other side of the balcony and size up the jump from here to the open window. Bracing one of your feet against a bracket of broken wood, you lean back momentarily before launching yourself through the air. Just as you push forward to leap, the balcony suddenly collapses. You get some power behind your jump, but you know instinctively it wasn't the amount you were aiming for. As you fall short of the window, you peer about desperately for something to grab onto. Just then, an arrow embeds itself just below the targeted window. You grasp the new hand-hold, swinging yourself upwards and into the opening. Sparing a glance outside, you see Zabel disappearing around the corner of another building, with two orc mercenaries hot on her heels. Cross off the keyword EAGLE (you no longer have this keyword). Now safely inside, you find yourself in a storage room with a boarded-up door and a ladder leading into a hatch in the ceiling. There is nowhere else to go, so you climb the ladder and slowly open the door above. Turn to 377.

  163

  Despite having sweat pouring off your brow, and your feet feeling like they are being cooked within your boots, you nonetheless manage to hold on to the edge of the trench until the guard turns around again and wanders a short distance away. Continuing on, you shimmy to the far end of the fire pit until you finally see the opportunity to clamber out, ducking behind cover as you hurriedly remove your boots to gently blow on your feet. If you make it through this, you vow to submerge your feet into an icy-cold mountain spring the first chance you get! Turn to 120.

  164

  You climb inside the chest and brace yourself against its sides in case the wall of fire brings with it a powerful blast. After a few moments, it hits, and you can hear the building around you catch alight and begin to crack like a toppling ship's mast. The fire pours around the chest, and while the sensation of heat isn't pleasant by any means, the chest is well-insulated by its leather
shielding, preventing you from being burned; for now at least. Suddenly your hiding place tilts sideways, and you know the building around you has toppled. You brace yourself as you are pressed hard against the wall of the chest until finally, a jolt signals your progress has been halted by another obstacle. You attempt to lift the lid of the chest but, whether it be from its own damage or from something else laying upon it, it just won't budge. You focus your mind and push hard with all of your might as the heat continues to increase around you. Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your STRENGTH, turn to 57. If the dice roll is higher than your STRENGTH, turn to 141.

  165

  Lifting yourself silently up to the pipes, you carefully shimmy your way across the room, making sure to keep your arms and legs tucked into the shadows. It isn't long, however, before your limbs burn with the strain of keeping your body aloft, and your arms soon give out, forcing you to drop down directly over the group of giant rats! You draw your sword immediately upon landing, slashing one of the rats in half as it stares dumbfounded at your sudden appearance. Reacting quickly, one of the other animals manages to sink its teeth into you! Subtract 1 from your HEALTH. You must now fight the remaining rats all at the same time.

  GIANT RAT 1: FIGHT 6, HEALTH 1

  GIANT RAT 2: FIGHT 5, HEALTH 2

  GIANT RAT 3: FIGHT 5, HEALTH 2

  GIANT RAT 4: FIGHT 5, HEALTH 2

  GIANT RAT 5: FIGHT 5, HEALTH 3

  GIANT RAT 6: FIGHT 5, HEALTH 3

  GIANT RAT 7: FIGHT 4, HEALTH 3

  If you win this battle, turn to 79.

  166

  As you step out from your chosen hiding place in the shadows, Fagen seems to detect your presence and rapidly shoots a web of electrical energy from his fingers. Lightning connects with moisture on the ground around you, sending a jolt of agonising pain up your legs and into your chest! Subtract 1 from your HEALTH. If you are still alive, you decide that playing with electricity is not in your best interests, and narrowly evade another bolt before scurrying out of the alleyway. You sprint down the next street until you are sure that you are out of the sorcerer's sight.

  “Stung, didn't it?” Fagen calls out from somewhere behind you. “You can come at me from around any corner or emerge from any portal, but you will never be a match for me!”

  Taking stock of your surroundings, you quickly look around trying to find another way to ambush the sorcerer.

  Will you attempt to surprise him around an alley corner (turn to 81),

  drop on top of him from a balcony (turn to 34),

  attack him from under a drain grill (turn to 90),

  or ambush him from one of the windows (turn to 366)?

  167

  Dysidious catches the blade of your longsword in the antler guard of his own weapon and wrenches it away from your grasp. As you watch your sword leave your hands, the bigger man grabs the front of your leather armour and, lifting you off your feet, hurls you back into the middle tunnel from where you first emerged. Rolling with the fall, you scramble back to avoid being hit with your own longsword as the warrior now uses it to chase you back to the cavern with the wooden platform. As your opponent lunges forward again, you deflect the hit with your parrying rapier before sliding a popper arrow from Zabel's quiver. You pound the projectile against Dysidious' armour and watch as the dyed grain puffs into the air, disrupting the big man's vision. You use this opportunity to dislodge your sword from his grasp and secure it back into your own hand. As Dysidious rubs the grain from his eyes, he comes at you again to press one final attack!

  DYSIDIOUS: FIGHT 8, HEALTH 2

  Note that Dysidious' Fight score is reduced for these final rounds of combat because of his affected vision.

  If you win this battle, turn to 254.

  168

  You are unable to keep your footing as the cable shakes with the crosswind, so you reach out to grasp the metal rope with your hands as you fall. Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your STRENGTH, turn to 243. If the dice roll is higher than your STRENGTH, turn to 234.

  169

  You smile as you hear the telltale sound of the lock's tumblers releasing. You tentatively push the gate aside, being careful to do it slowly to avoid loud squeaks, and then silently close it again behind you. Having bypassed this obstacle, you move on to the next part of the platform, which from the shouts and laughter above sounds like it passes directly beneath the centre of the enemy encampment. Turn to 242.

  170

  Closing the door quietly, you take cover behind a pile of old clothing stacked near the entrance. The room ahead is a generous length but is otherwise cramped due to being narrow. A single table sits at the other end of this space, with two more mercenaries, another orc and a smaller, slightly uglier creature (a goblin), sitting on chairs while playing a card game. To your left is an open passageway which you could slip into to avoid the guards, though the creaky wooden floor here might pose a problem. Will you sneak into the left-hand passageway (turn to 289) or attack the two guards (turn to 117)?

  171

  As your head passes near to the rear of the dragon, you spy something amiss directly behind its blue-stone tail. You spot a series of gears and a metal hinge which holds the dragon against the clock face, but which has now shifted to reveal a hidden entrance hatch! When the statue moved, it wasn't falling after all, but instead had only slipped slightly on its hinge! You surmise that this hatch must be a direct entrance into the clock mechanism. It's possible if you go inside from here you might end up being trapped inside the gear chamber, rather than making it into the inner passageway. Do you want to go in through the hidden entrance (turn to 372) or continue climbing towards the open window (turn to 321)?

  172

  You sit bolt upright, realising in your tiredness that you'd almost forgotten entirely about the battle map you examined after defeating the enemy General.

  “Arinzo,” you call out, all thoughts of sleeping now evaporated by an increase in adrenaline. “The enemy is planning a flanking assault upon the city's northern wall. Bring me a map, and I will show you.” Zabel produces a map of the city and its surrounding terrain and unfurls it upon the floor.

  “Why do they bother attacking from the north?” asks Babin. “Why not just bring all their forces in over the border bridge while it was still under their control?”

  “The city of Dactyl tried that several years ago,” replies Arinzo, perusing the troop locations that you mark upon the map. “The streets of Dusk are built narrow, with several high points. Taking and holding the Town Hall is one thing, but an entire army moving through the streets soon becomes harried and flanked. By surmounting the north wall, the enemy would have a more direct route to take the fort belonging to the Town Guard. If the Guard falls, so does Dusk. But what I do not understand is how the Dactyl army is ferrying its troops and equipment across the river. If they had built boats or a new bridge, we would have known.”

  “Then I shall head north immediately to scout their forces,” you announce. Arinzo nods his head in agreement while signalling Zabel to grab her bow and go with you. Without delay, you leave your hideout and depart the city. Turn to 324.

  173

  You reach out desperately, but your hands are unable to grasp the slick beam! You plummet from the upper bridge and land on top of one of the encampment tents below, successfully softening your fall. Several guards have spotted you now, however, and it will be impossible for you to fight so many at once. Not seeing any other choice, you slide down the tent wall and dive over the side of the bridge, plunging into the waters below. You swim furiously, eventually making it to the city-side of the shoreline, but not before some of the carnivorous river fish have taken several bites out of you. Subtract 3 from your HEALTH. If you are still alive when you reach the riverbank, you regroup with the town guardsmen stationed nearby to report the failure of your mission. Captain Jadu thanks you for trying and tells you that he will devise a new plan to take the bridge. In the me
antime, you are instructed to return to the Thieve's Guild hideout. Return to 362 and choose another option, remembering to cross off any locations already visited.

  174

  Most dragons are ancient creatures, even some of the younger ones, and have a greater command over the passage of time than regular people. Your intention to wait underwater until the dragon leaves is quickly extinguished by an eruption of desperation from your lungs, wishing for an urgent injection of precious air. You can no longer stand it and scramble to the surface to take a breath. When you do, you find yourself immediately smothered in a blanket of fire, which seeks to melt your skin, fusing it to your bones. Submerging just makes the pain worse, and you burst up and out of the water involuntarily. This time the dragonfire takes you completely, and your eyes are the first things to pop, sparing you the unpleasantries of witnessing what happens to the rest of your body. Your adventure ends here.

  175

  You realise that the golden guard that was once part of the sword belonging to the fierce warrior Dysidious was forged from this animal's antler. Do you wish to return the piece to the deer? If so, roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your CHARISMA, turn to 22. If the dice roll is higher than your CHARISMA, or you choose not to return the golden piece, turn to 106.