The Heart of Fire
Page 56
Then, when all seems lost, you find some hidden reserve of strength – a bitter fury that floods through your body, helping you to shrug off her debilitating spells. The witch senses this change, pausing in her attack.
‘Demon blood!’ the voice whispers.
Then you fly forward, driving your weapons into her tattered robes. There is a deafening shriek as a black wind pours out of the wound, blowing you backwards. You tumble over onto your stomach, looking up in time to see the creature’s mildewed robes flutter to the ground. There is no sign of a body, only a thin maggot-like worm, dragging itself across the stones. You clamber to your feet, marching forward to drive your weapons into its weakened form. There is a piercing, eldritch screech. Then there is silence . . .
At last the succubus’ power has been broken – and the marsh is now safe for the Shara Khana to cross. However, it feels a hollow victory, knowing that your tigris companions gave their lives to achieve this end. Turn to 748.
718
The raft is buffeted through the chaotic tumult, but somehow you manage to keep it on course, avoiding the majority of the obstacles flung your way. Finally the river starts to slow, until you find yourself paddling through calmer waters, the thick forest rolling by on either side.
You start to relax, settling into a calm rhythm of strokes – until you spot the pair of yellow eyes glittering above the waterline. You draw in your paddle, leaving the raft to glide closer – hoping that you can pass unharmed. But as you near, the eyes dip below the surface. A dark shadow flows quickly beneath your craft. A heartbeat. Then there is a thunderous crash as something drives up underneath you, smashing through the raft and sending you tumbling into the water. For several seconds, you are blinded by air bubbles, then you see the huge reptilian body whipping towards you – its long jaws open wide. It is time to fight:
Special abilities
Death roll: If the alligator rolls a for its damage score, it goes into a death roll – spinning you wildly around in its powerful jaws. The alligator may roll another die to add further damage. If a is rolled again, it may roll another dice – and so on.
Drowning: At the end of every combat round you must automatically lose 2 health.
If you manage to overcome this powerful predator, turn to 742.
719
After brushing ink over the bronze plates, you lower them onto the paper. When you lift up the cross-piece, you are pleased to see that the parchment is now marked with your chosen sigils. Your book is almost complete; all that remains is to bind the loose pages. If you wish to choose a binding of black iron, turn to 806. If you would prefer to choose a binding of drake scales, turn to 876.
720
You search the hunter’s corpse, finding 30 gold crowns and one of the following items:
Bark whip
Jade teeth
Net of snares
(left hand: whip)
(main hand: fist weapon)
(cloak)
+2 speed +2 brawn
+2 speed +2 brawn
+1 speed +1 magic
Ability: bleed
Ability: rake
Ability: immobilise
(requirement: warrior)
With the hunter defeated, you quickly scan through the available supplies. You may take up to two of the following items:
Rhinosaur pheromone
Flask of healing (1 use)
Hunter’s net (2 uses)
(backpack)
(backpack)
(backpack)
The pungent aroma of male rhinosaur sweat
Use any time in combat to restore 10 health
Use at the start of a combat round to reduce your opponent’s speed by 2 for that round
As you step from the tent, you hear a wailing cry from above. Looking up, you see the sniper topple from the watch tower. A tigris follows him over the rail, her sharp claws whipping around to dig into the wood – slowing her fall. It is White Cloak. The agile tigris springs back to the ground, her eyes already scanning the battle for her next prey. Turn to 785.
721
The sun has sunk low in the sky, its reddish glow fanning through the treetops. You contemplate making camp, aware that this is now your third day trekking across the forested mountain slopes. But you sense you are getting close to the trail’s end. The warm wind now carries a hint of the sea, whilst the cawing gulls have become a more frequent sight, reeling overhead.
You decide to make a final push – a decision that soon rewards you, as the dirt of the forest gives way to soft white sand. Elated that your journey is finally at an end, you race down the slope onto the beach. At first, it is everything you imagined: a hidden cove of clear-blue water, sheltered by a chain of coral reefs. The beach itself stretches away to either side, forming a perfect crescent, its undulating dunes hugged by swaying palms and barnacled rock.
Paradise. And yet, something isn’t right.
There is wreckage on the shore. Fragments of wood and rusted metal. And the remains of a ship’s mast bobbing on the waves. Gulls are pecking at bones, whilst other scavengers – rats and wild-looking dogs – sniff hungrily through the debris. You stride warily along the beach, sand crunching underfoot as you survey the dead bodies. They have been stripped to their bones, their few belongings now lying strewn across the beach. You wonder if some of these were other travellers – like yourself – who came looking for paradise, but found something else instead. Turn to 690.
722
You trek through the muggy dawn – a silent procession, winding between the towering trees of the forest. Scar-face leads the way, accompanied by a female pack member, her face permanently twisted into a scowl. Occasionally she glances back at you, teeth bared. You sense that not everyone is happy with you joining the pack.
Grey-hair walks at your side, his head constantly turning from side to side as he silently regards his surroundings. Little has been said since leaving the river – the tigris have proved to be a taciturn people, content to watch and listen rather than give voice to their thoughts. Knowing of the dangers that lurk here in the forest, perhaps silence is a wise defence.
Just before midday, Scar-face makes the first warning signal – raising a paw to halt the procession. The female tracker is scraping something from the groove of a tree. She holds it out to Grey-hair, who moves to inspect her find. You peer past his shoulder to see a collection of jelly-like eggs.
‘Drecko,’ snarls Grey-hair, his claws sliding out from his paws as he regards the tree tops. You notice that the rest of the pack is now hugging the ground, looking up through the shelves of foliage.
Then you hear a hacking cry from the trees behind you. There is an answering call from deeper in the forest. Quickly, you ready your weapons, trying to catch sight of whatever has spooked the tigris.
‘There!’ hisses Grey-hair, pointing.
You see a dark shape gliding across a thin patch of sky. It has black, webbed wings and a scaled body. It disappears into the canopy as another series of guttural calls breaks the brooding silence.
Several tense minutes pass, all eyes remaining on the trees. You are about to relax, believing that the tigris are being overly cautious, when suddenly the first of the beasts swoops down from above. You catch sight of a bone-crested head and curved talons. Then one of the tigris is snarling and screeching as it is grabbed in the creature’s jaws and lifted up into the air. More of the creatures glide in from the opposite direction, their wings casting long shadows across the ground. One of them closes in on you, looking to snap you up with its needle-like teeth. It is time to fight:
Special abilities
Winged predator: It is difficult to outmanoeuvre this agile combatant. You must lower your speed by 1 for the duration of this fight.
Delirium: After the drecko makes a successful attack that causes health damage, you are immediately inflicted with delirium. If you win a combat round, roll a die. If the result is or then your attack misses its mark and you cannot roll for dama
ge. If the result is or more, you can roll for damage as normal.
If you manage to defeat the drecko, turn to 693. Otherwise, turn to 640.
723
For defeating Nephele, you may now help yourself to one of the following special items:
Cape of the unseen
Abandoned hope
Shiver spine
(cloak)
(main hand: dagger)
(left hand: snake)
+2 speed +3 brawn
+3 speed +4 brawn
+2 speed +3 brawn
Ability: coup de grace
Ability: gut ripper
Ability: frostbite
(requirement: venommancer)
If you are hexed then you have gained an extra reward, turn to 838. Otherwise, return to the quest map to continue your journey.
724
Avian blasts the troll off its feet. As it scrabbles through the bones, struggling to right itself, you leap onto its ribcage and bring your weapons down – slicing through the growth-like club. The grisly appendage goes sailing away in a sickening spray of foul pestilence.
‘No!’ hisses the troll, raising the severed stump to its hollow eye-sockets.
‘My pretty! My treasure! My shiny fing!’
You swing your weapons again, watching with a grim satisfaction as the troll’s skull leaves its shoulders, rattling away to join the rest of the bones littering the passageway. The body gives an agonised spasm, the legs kicking in the slimy dirt, then it lies still – dust motes swirling like carrion flies over its tattered remains.
For defeating Nergal, you may now help yourself to one of the following rewards:
Bone rot
Troll tusks
Nergal’s splinters
(left hand: club)
(head)
(gloves)
+2 speed +3 brawn
+2 speed +2 armour
+1 speed +2 armour
Ability: leech
Ability: charge
Ability: rake
(requirement: warrior)
(requirement: mage)
When you have made your decision, turn to 635.
725
You place the bird tablet into the hole. There is a sharp click as it slots into place, followed by a scraping rumble as the final tier of the pyramid rises up. Resting on top of it is a small bronze urn. If you wish, you may take:
Bronze urn
(backpack)
A decorative burial urn containing ashes
If you haven’t already, you can search the main chamber (turn to 508) or leave and continue your journey (turn to 563).
726
You scoop up a rock and charge at the rogue. For a split second Murlic’s eyes widen in surprise, then his familiar scowl returns. He swipes his daggers through the air, cutting angry red trails towards your chest. The blow would have hit you, and possibly ended your life there and then, but a blast of black magic slams into his side, blowing him back into the opposite wall.
As his smoking body slides to the ground, he fixes you with a contemptuous glare. ‘Foolish cur . . . it’s the witch . . .’
Suddenly your surroundings start to blur, sweeping into ribbons of ochre light. You hear a woman’s laughter – cold and shrill – reverberating all around you. Then you lurch forwards, as if pushed by some invisible hand, to find yourself standing in a ruined building. A female tigris lies sprawled at your feet, blood pooling around her broken body. It is Scowler. Turn to 435.
727
Legendary monster: Ixion, the wheel of pain
The tortured screams carry across the churning waves of the lava sea. You spin around, eyes roving across the floating fragments of rock. At first, you don’t see anything untoward – then, between the banks of steaming mist, you catch what looks like a giant wheel, bouncing and lurching through the lava. As it circles around your island, you realise that your eyes are not deceiving you – it is a wheel, one made of metal, with serrated spikes protruding from its outside edge.
The screams are coming from some poor victim, bound to the wheel’s spokes. His arms and legs are manacled, his head held back by a cruel metal collar. He writhes and squirms in pain, his skin already blackened and charred, stretched taut over thin bone. By all reason he should be dead, fried to cinders – and yet some dark magic is keeping him alive, his tormented visage emitting an endless stream of wails and curses.
You glance at Virgil, his gem-studded eyepatch gleaming in the heat.
The witchfinder slides his pistols from his coat. ‘Let’s put this devil out of his misery.’
The wheel flips up on a viscous wave, spinning through the air towards your island. You scramble aside as it comes crashing down, its jagged spikes ripping deep furrows into the black rock.
‘Fools!’ The charred man leans forward, pulling against his restraints. ‘There is no escape. No escaping the pain!’ From his mouth comes a rippling torrent of flame, its edges flickering with ghostly skulls. You cover your face from the heat as the wheel screeches past, missing you by a hair’s breadth. As it circles around to make its next pass, you draw your weapons and prepare to take on this hellish wheel of pain. It is time to fight:
Special abilities
Rolling, rolling, rolling: The wheel picks up speed when it is charging and then slows down to turn. Its speed alternates between 14 and 12. In the first combat round, the wheel has a speed of 14, in the second, 12 – and so on.
Purging flames: While Ixion is alive, you must take 6 damage, ignoring armour, at the end of each combat round. If you have fire shield, this is reduced to 2 damage.
In this combat you roll against the wheel’s speed. If you win a combat round, you can choose to apply your damage to the wheel or Ixion. Once the wheel is reduced to zero health, Ixion is also automatically defeated.
If you manage to destroy this tumbling torture-chamber, turn to 888.
728
You search through the grisly remains of the golem, wondering if there is anything of value that can be salvaged. Amongst the charred bones and magic-imbued flesh, you find one of the following special rewards:
Blood diamond
Tendon rope
Gloves of the firmament
(ring)
(necklace)
(gloves)
+2 magic
+1 speed +1 armour
+1 speed +4 magic
Ability: bleed
Ability: greater heal
Ability: resolve
When you have updated your hero sheet, turn to 877.
729
With the mighty black panther defeated, you may now help yourself to one of the following rewards:
Untamed will
Back to the wild
Hunter’s heart
(main hand: dagger)
(cloak)
(necklace)
+2 speed +2 brawn
+1 speed +2 brawn
+1 speed
Ability: piercing
Ability: fearless
Ability: savage call
(requirement: rogue)
(requirement: warrior)
You also take Gheira’s paw, as proof of your victory (make a note of this on your hero sheet, it does not take up backpack space). If you have the glaive of souls equipped, turn to 663. Otherwise, return to the quest map to continue your adventure.
730
Blood and gore spatter in all directions as your weapons cleave through the demon’s body. Unable to reform itself, the creature gives a gurgling screech before collapsing into a thick pool of steaming slime. Wafting away the noxious vapours, you spy a number of valuable treasures bobbing on the surface.
You have gained 200 gold crowns and one of the following rewards:
Glutton’s robes
Wastrel’s guise
Fortune’s seekers
(chest)
(head)
(gloves)
+2 speed +4 magic
+2 speed +2 brawn
+1 speed
+4 brawn
Ability: leech
Ability: blind
Ability: unstoppable
(requirement: mage)
(requirement: rogue)
(requirement: warrior)
With the demon defeated, you help Virgil to destroy the gate. Once the runes have been broken and the portal closed, the witchfinder turns on you angrily.
‘Demons!’ he spits. ‘Next time, I suggest you listen to my counsel. Their art is murder and deceit.’ He glowers at your scaled flesh. ‘Just be grateful I do not choose to judge you, demon.’
He spins on his heel and marches away, his boots squelching through the slime. You glance back at the gate, wondering if there is a ring of truth to the witchfinder’s words – the demon blood courses through your veins. With every hour, you feel yourself changing . . . becoming more like them.
There are many steps on the path of darkness. I pray you find deliverance before its end.
Angrily, you push Virgil’s warning from you mind. Cernos is the key to your freedom, and you don’t intend on letting him escape. Turn to 872.
731
You clamber over the charred rubble to find yourself in a vast windowless hall. Wherever your eye falls there are bones, blackened and scorched. It would appear that a great battle was fought here – a terrible conflict where many lives were lost. You tread through the grisly wasteland, trying to piece together what happened. Black scars rake the walls and floor, as if some fire or heat was passed over them. Across the ceiling you notice similar trails and the occasional impact crater, where something must have been hurled against the stone with great strength.