Lone Wolf 8, First Failed Journey

Here on earth, it’s been a  few months since I played Castle Death, but for Lone Wolf it has been only a few days. A new Darklord has taken control in Helgedad, and Drakkarim have been invading the border towns in preparation for all-out war yet again. One of these bordering kingdoms is Talestria, home of the Danarg Swamp… and of the next Lorestone.

Why can’t a Lorestone be somewhere nice, like a beach in Hawai’i? Well, because then book 8 would be “The Beaches of Warm Sand” and that just wouldn’t be exciting. Still, a Kai can hope…

This time, Lone Wolf has a companion, a wizard-warrior named Paido. He seems competent enough, which will be something of a pleasant change.

We step off the boat, and are greeted by a captain who gives us some nice horses and a writ of passage from the queen. They can’t send us a military escort on account of the war, but we know how companions and escorts fare in the world of game books, so it’s probably for the best that they just go to war instead of taking their chances in my company.

Paido and I catch a barge heading north to Tharro, again compliments of the captain. The boat is a fun time: bad booze, a bar brawl, a necromancer with a price on his head. The necromancer fight is epic! A soldier confronts the necromancer to arrest him, and falls to the ground in a surge of warts, boils, and fire. The necromancer summons a swarm of spiders, but Paido throws fire from his sword at them. I put an arrow through the necromancer’s arm. Then we close in for close combat. I get torn up a bit. Paido soaks half of the damage. The soldier died in the fight. But ultimately, we kill the necromancer and we’re big damn heroes.

We ride the rest of the way to Tharro, which turns out to be not at all friendly. At our first stop, a fletchers’ shop where we could buy bows and bow accessories, the owner tries to kill me with my own silver bow. We kill him, and as we take off running I see that he’s wearing a medallion of a flaming sword. Down the street, we find a local temple offering food and shelter and it is getting kind of late… but it’s sporting that same logo. I’d just as soon get out of town, but we’re railroaded into going into the temple and being given dinner. Darn.

Anyway, I suspect a trap and don’t eat the food, but my goofball companion does. No surprise, it was drugged, and the abbot is really a Helgast.

Unfortunately, he’s also a really powerful one. Even with all my buffs and a +8 magic sword and all, the combat balance is at -6. I last 4 rolls until I am killed in combat. My adventure ends here.