Shadow Warriors? I don’t believe they exist

Well, I finished mapping out Seas of Blood and I admit, I did not enjoy it. So, on to my next adventure – Legend of the Shadow Warriors.

My back story is fairly ordinary: retired soldier, sword for hire, and a village terrorized by some jerks dressed up as Shadow Warrior bogeymen.

Starting stats: SK 10 / ST 20 / LK 11

The story starts off with a bang!

An old frenemy shows up at the tavern as I’m about to leave, and wants me to bet on a roll of dice. I could use some cash, so I take the 50/50 chance.. and lose. I’m willing to let it go, but he presses his luck and I catch him cheating with a loaded die. The crowd drags him outside, I get my money back plus a little extra, and it’s time to go shop for supplies for my trip.

I pick up some armor, a lantern, and a rope and grapple. I wonder where the food carts are, but then am interrupted by the town guard and a tax collector. How in the world do I owe 586 gold in back taxes when I’ve only been here for four days? I consider what legal counsel would be available, the legitimacy of taxation, and other factors carefully – then shove him back into the guards and run for it!

At one point, I start to pick up a manhole cover figuring to lose them in the sewers. They’d be crazy to follow me, right? A guy in an alley tosses me a sphere, which I figure is his way of helping out. Wrong! It throws out a bunch of spikes, and I drop it just in time. Jerk! So, down into the sewers.

Yeah, it’s a sewer. It’s… everything you’re thinking… about why people should not go into sewers.

And it has a shoggoth. They call it a slygore, but I know a shoggoth when I see it! Damn wizards dump their experiments into the sewer instead of taking them to hazmat, and that’s how you get goddam poop elementals! Again, I figure the better part of discretion is cowardice and I run for it. The town guards are bad, but being dissolved by a poop elemental has got to be worse!

I make it back up to the surface. I’m already down 1 stamina and 2 luck, and I’m not even out of town yet. In fact, I’m only a few blocks away and still at the market, which is now surrounded by guards.

I have a brilliant idea to create a distraction: throw money into the air. I throw 5 gold, and in the ensuing crowd rush I am squeezed for 5 stamina loss! The guards lose me in the chaos, and I get away onto the grounds of a small temple. I breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the well-kept grounds of the shrine for a moment.

I make my way down to the east gate, where that jerk tax collector is waiting by the gate. Oh for goodness’ sake, this guy is serious about his job! But I make my luck roll (now down to 8) and sneak past the gate. I’m out of the city and on my way to meet my employers to save their village.

In a cut-scene, we walk most of the way there and make our way across the pass into Karnstein.

And then they appear, the shadow warriors!

Both of my companions are instantly killed by a tragic plot device. I’m not buying it, though, and I stand to attack.

They beat me down, and I lose 4 stamina, then I decide to play dead so they don’t finish me off. Maybe I can learn something if they speak.

But no, I failed the luck roll. I twitch. They kill me. My adventure ends here.