Spellbreaker, the final showdown – Part 5, Tallow witch trial and I die anyway

Spellbreaker – I have finally made it to the town of Tallow, which is the furthest I have ever made in in this book, because of an unlikely sequence of required rolls and items. But here I am, ready to explore new ground. With some luck I can survive this awful little village, and move on to Claybury, where a group of witch hunters plans to raid Nazek’s coven, and where I intend to join them.

As I arrive in Tallow, there is a woman being accused of being a witch. In this land of magic, of course a witch really would transform into a bat and fly away or could knock them all out with a sleep spell, so the fact that she’s tied up and tolerating this behavior doesn’t indicate that she’s a witch. When I mention this, of course the peasants decide that I must be a witch. So they administer a trial:

• Not have a witch’s mark nor crescent moon amulet. Check. Though, I would have been drugged back in Hallow’s Well and had a witch’s mark put on me involuntarily.
• Make a 50/50 dice roll to hold my breath or else die.
• Have that salamander potion. Ironically, the potion that proves I’m not a witch is totally the sort of thing they would call witchcraft.

Now the villagers are angry that I survived their trial. Goodness, I guess he proved he wasn’t a witch – better kill him anyway. So I rush the inquisitor, who appears to be possessed because he specifically singled me out and called me Spellbreaker, said I wouldn’t ruin their plans, mwuhaha! I dash over and bravely begin attacking the inquisitor with the blessed blade, and it’s not an easy fight because he has 11 Skill. I take a mild beating, but eventually I prevail. The villagers snap out of their trance, and start apologizing to me .- but not to the woman they were about to burn. What the heck?

They buy me lunch and I heal stamina a bit, and set off. The book asks if I have the keyword Raven? No.

So, on the road out of Tallow I am attacked by a horde of demons, and killed. My adventure ends here.

Are you kidding me? Another bottleneck in the book, where you need some specific item (in this case, a keyword) or else insta-death. This book is annoying as hell.