Post by Beowuuf on Apr 20, 2009 1:12:15 GMT -5
A Kai Lord must be able to use his abilities in tracking to hunt his two legged-prey. It will also allow him to negotiate the cities and more exotic locations their prey may try to lose themselves in. Prove your own skills now in this unusual contest!
A four chapter short story with eleven parts is about to unfold. However, to simulate the thrill of the chase, you will need to locate the last ten of the parts, buried in my old forum posts, by using clues from the previous parts!
Each part will contain a block of text taken from a Lone Wolf book section. The part will also contain a reference to one of the forum boards, and probably a clue as to the book used for that part's book section. Chapters usually take sections from the same book in each part.
You locate the next part by using the following link as a base:
daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=
&action=display&thread=&page=1#
-Use the board name in the board name section in the following format: general, forge, tots, news, wwatch, dorm, lorefire etc)
Use the book number as a basis for the thread number, adding any other numbers as asked
-Use the book number as basis of the thread number
-Use the section number as the basis for the page number, ensuring 1# is infront.
For the above page/thread numbers, the part may request you add a number to start of the book/section numbers to create the thread/page references for the link.
For example:
A part mentions news, contains a block of text from book 8 section 29, and asks you to add +6 to your next tracking attempt.
The link you would need to follow would be:
daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=news&action=display&thread=68&page=1#629
Sound good instead of confusing? Sound exciting rather than scary? Great! Read the section below, and get going! When you think you can go no further, or if you manage to reach the THRILLING conclusion, PM me the list of links you have followed. If you manage to track the links some other way, don't worry about it - after all, that's a brilliant use of the Tracking skill too! So let's start!
Edit: Contest closed, full story and solution below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1: An urgent mission.
You have quickly departed from the Tower of the Sun and out of the monastery with an urgent mission. Your masters have sent you out to track the stolen Dagger of Vashna. Your only lead is that a suspicious wolf creature was last seen hanging around the monastery.
You are very aware that you are rushing through the forest as Lone Wolf once did in his first days. At least you know the monastery and your kin will be awaiting you when you return.
The forest is becoming denser, and the path more tangled with thorny briars. Almost completely hidden by the undergrowth, you notice another path branching off towards the east. Your current route seems to be coming to a prickly end, so you decide to follow the new path eastwards. (book 1, section 35)
You only hope you can use your skills to track the creature through here! Add +2 to the start of your numbers in this attempt.
Chapter 2: Welcome to Ragadorn
You have tracked your prey for days through forest then scrub, through Sommerlund to the Wildlands, and finally to Ragadorn. Where once Lone Wolf came by accidnt, you now come on purpose. You have not spotted the creature yet, just its tracks. Now the dirt tracks have finally been lost to the cobbles of a town, and you realise you will need to use your skills to inflitrate the underground here and find a lead. Surely something as unusual as a wolf creature would not go unnoticed! Perhaps the creature requires aid. You focus your disciplines to determine the direction of the shadiest part of this place, and take the nearest street.
You follow this rat-infested street as it drops steeply to the wharfs and jetties of the River Dorn. From the edge of the waterfront, you see the Ragadorn bridge. It is the only crossing between the east and west sides of this sleazy port. (book 2 , section 20)
Have your skills failed you, or have you come to the correct place? Will someone be able to shed any light on your quest? Add +3 to the start of your numbers in this attempt.
You get a good lead from one of the beggars about a man who is not fussy as to his customers, and can arrange many things for many people. The beggar did not volunteer this information out of some spirit of civic duty, but for some gold crowns, whch is why you trust the lead. The man you seek is based in a tavern closeby, which is fortunate as you fear the trail is getting colder the more you chase around. Taking a deep breath, and praying to Kai this is not a dead end, you enter.
Casting your eye around the crowded tavern, you notice that many of the locals are playing various gambling games. Near to the main door, a young rogue has three upturned wooden cups on the table in front of him. He spins them around and challenges anyone to point out the cup that contains a small glass marble. (book 2, section 25)
The man is clearly cheating, just as he does with his other card and dice games also going on at the table. You also hope your skills have not let you down, and he is indeed the man you seek. Add +3 to the end of your numbers in this attempt.
"I know nothing about a wolf creature!" the man spits, trying to turn away. You simply smile, as all you said was you were tracking a creature in general, not a wolf specifically. He seems to realise his mistake a second later. He acts as if he is ignoring you and concentrating on the various groups betting with him.
All of a sudden, he turns on his heel with a dagger brandished and lunges for you. It was an obvious move, and you were prepared for it. Sadly, he was not prepared for your quick movements in return and he slips, falling hard on his own knife and killing himself instantly.
The trickster lies dead at your feet. Rolling him over with your foot, you remove several cards from the sleeves of his jacket and throw them on the table. The crowd soon disperses and the tavern is a bustle of noise and activity once more. (book 2, section 21)
Just as you curse your luck, you spot something at the back door - it is the wolf! He spots you a fraction of a second later on, and in a blink he is gone. You are instantly on the move, already steeling yourself to using all your skills to trace his path the second you hit the back alleys. There is no need to add anything to your numbers for this attempt.
You move with grace through the various back alleys, pressing your prey hard. It has tremendous strength and speed, but obviously does not know this place at all. It seems to realise your superior skills will let you catch up, and it moves towards the edges of town, where the old pirate caves are.
In days passed, when Ragadorn was a little bit more respectable, pirates used to have to hide their ships here. Now these places have become part of the overspill for the harbour general storage. A semi-lit opening catches both your eyes, and it makes towards the door-like gap without looking back.
You chase the furry creature as it hurries along a narrow, twisting passage for nearly ten minutes and are about to give up the chase when the passage opens out into a huge torchlit cavern. A stunning sight greets your eyes. (book 2, section 23)
Have your skills betrayed you, or have they steered you true? There is no need to add anything to your numbers this attempt.
Chapter 3: The Set-up
Boxes and crates of all sizes lines the floor and craggy shelves on the walls of this immense place. A small tributary of the river flows through here, and you realise that it must have been an easy way for people to smuggle items passed inspection and duty charges to meet with boats directly in times passed.
You try to scan for your furry friend, but suddenly your senses scream a warning at you. A figure dressed in plate mail steps out from the side of the opening, having been hidden there.
The ambush is so sudden and so swift that only luck can save you now. (book 6, section 97)
You throw yourself to the ground and use all your skills learned in the Lorehall of Fire to roll back up again. Luck stops you from being severed by the attacker's fist blow, but your combined disciplines stop a second blow from ever coming. The now dead man dressed in black plate mail reminds you of the description of Roark's sister whom attacked Lone Wolf at the Denka Gate. Still, this assassin is a man, a Vassgonian no less, and you shudder as you see the symbol on his face - he was an Acolyte of Vashna!
What have you uncovered? More importantly, can you get back on the trail of the wolf creature? Add +2 to the start of your numbers for this attempt.
You keep following the wolf's trail. He appears to be backtracking out of the cavern system and upstream along the river away from the city and the sea. There seems to be some activity there, but the need for urgency spurs you on without fear.
Ogron engineers and carpenters are busy at work constructing pontoons for floating bridges, which look like enclosed rowing boats and are destined to be used to cross the river further downstream.
Staring out across the water, you notice a dark shadow like the entrance to a cave at the base of the city wall. After concentrating for a few moments, you find you can make out the dull criss-cross of metal bars. It is a sewer outfall. (book 6, section 70)
All signs point to the wolf having gone that way. You are aware of how precariously you will be positioned entering it, but you have to stop the wolf, whatever it is doing. The Dagger must not fall in to the hand of cultists! You decide to risk caution for speed.
However, your worst fears become confirmed. Just as you try to slide down the sewer outfall, rough hand grab you and pull you down. You expect to see a wolf, but instead a group of Vassgonians face you, holding you fast despite your struggling. The wolf is already bound, apparently unconscious. "We have our true sacrifice! Now we will succeed!" says one of the men as he viciously stabs you with a blow from the dagger forged by Vashna himself.
Will you wake up again? Will you know where you are? Gain a +7 at the start of the numbers you use for this attempt.
You come too in a makeshif cell made of a deadend sewer passage. You realise the air is unnaturally cold. It reminds you of Ixia for some reason. Your belly wound has not been tended to well, rough bandages barely stopping the bloodflow. You wonder why you have been so poorly treated until you look up and see the horde of undead coming towards you. They have already ripped apart your gailors, and they then tear apart the grate that has been your cell door. No wonder you were reminded of Ixia!
Is it too late? Has Vashna arisen? No, surely you have not been unconscious so long, the time of month would not be right and you must still be below Ragadorn. The Vassgonians must have performed some ritual with the dagger to raise some of his recovered warriors though, and now they are paying the price for their lack of control. Hopefully some of your fellows will not just be on the west watch, and will look to their backs for a new threat from Ragadorn if you fail to stop it now!
Groaning from the pain of your wound, you stagger to your feet and barge your way through the skeletal warriors who are now clustered in the doorway to the cell. The speed of your action, so soon after receiving a wound that would have killed outright any lesser mortal, takes the group by surprise and leaves them sprawled helplessly on the ground. By the time they have untangled themselves and found their feet, you are nowhere to be seen.
When you are sure that you are not being followed, you pause for a few moments to attend to your wounded stomach. Once you have staunched the bleeding, you then use your Magnakai skill of Nexus in an attempt to determine the location of your missing weapons and equipment. You sense they are not too distant and, guided by your intuition, you go off along an adjoining passageway in search of them. (book 17, section 306)
Will you find your equipment, your way out, and the odd wolf creature? Add +1 to the start of the numbers you use in this attempt.
Chapter 4: Evil Turns on Itself
For a moment you fear you have been transported to the Maakengorge itself, to the site of the original attempt to ressurect Vashna - the heat makes you stagger. However, it is the normal air of Sommerlund, and the counterpoint is to the chill of the air before. You find the wolf creature in some form of dormitory for sewer staff, and the creature has already freed himself.
"I work for the Elder Magi of Dessi," he explains, "we discovered a group of rogue Vassgonians were planning something. I have trailed them for weeks. I fear I was too late to stop them from stealing the Dagger, and apparently they had prepared some bodies to practise their raising of the dead on before they journeyed onwards to the Maakengorge."
"They do not have the powers of control, they are being wiped out," you say with a grim smile. "However, we need to find their leader. He must still have the Dagger if the dead still live!" So saying, you move swiftly on the trail of the living Vassgonians.
It seems odd to now be tracking with the wolf, instead of tracking the wolf itself. However, before long you find your way out of this twisted underground maze and back out to the light. You do not get a chance to celebrate however. Two escaping Vassgonians, mounted, have spotted you. The leader that stabbed you, still with the dagger, urges his fellow to run you both down. The wolf leaps out snarling, and the horse panics and throws his rider. The horse slips and the wolf gets pinned under the panicking horse. The man stands up angrily and charges at you.
You are in combat with a Vassagonian horseman who is now on foot. You cannot evade him and must fight him to the death. (book 4, section 90)
Things will go badly for you unless your tracking skill had let you find your equipment earlier. You gain +5 to the start of all numbers for this attempt.
Your tracking skills had served you well, and had secured you your weapons. You make short work of the horseman, even though he seems a decent soldier and not some rogue priest. The wolf is still pinned below the fallen horse as more Vassgonians and the undead have started to come forth from the sewer exit.
Something burns fiercely inside the sewer letting smoke drift upwards from the opening. Meanwhile skeletons and Vassgonians fight furiously. You ignore it all however, for the Vassgonian leader - some form of officer - must not be allowed to escape! Your Vow of Solaris will not allow it!
"Quick, use this!" yells the wolf, still pushing the horse from himself. He throws a bow then arrow he has recovered from the saddlebags. You grab the bow out of the air, and quickly recover the arrow and notch it. The leader senses your intentions, and quickly scrabbles on to a horse he has recovered, ready to make his escape.
The arrow arcs through the smoke-blackened sky and pierces the officer's shining breastplate. You hear his scream of pain ring out above the din of battle and watch as his cruel eyes flicker and close. He swoons and slips from his saddle, your arrow lodged deep in his heart. (book 4, section 39)
However, your victory is short lived. Even as the skeletons - who have murdered most of the other Vasgonians - fall down, one wounded Vassgonian scrambles on to the horse of his leader. "The Dagger, I can see it tied to the saddle! Don't let him leave!" yells the wolf as he struggles painfully from under the horse and collapses exhausted. Your blood runs cold. One last time, you skills are required to quickly work out the best way to head off a mounted man. Add +3 to the numbers you use in this attempt.
Your skills let you instinctively know the shape of the landscape. You move diagonally uphill knowing your foe will have to skirt around. He also has trouble, wounded as he is, with controlling his horse.
It is an easy tackle as you leap from height and bring him down off the horse. "Vashna will rise, one day!" he gasps, but the fall has worsened his wounds and he dies.
"Not today," you say, calming the horse and taking the Dagger from the saddle to place in your belt for safekeeping. You climb on to the horse, and go back to pick up the wolf.
You have managed to 'capture' the wolf, and more importantly you have recovered the Dagger of Vashna and save Magnamund from a fearsome foe rising. Well done you great big hero you!
A four chapter short story with eleven parts is about to unfold. However, to simulate the thrill of the chase, you will need to locate the last ten of the parts, buried in my old forum posts, by using clues from the previous parts!
Each part will contain a block of text taken from a Lone Wolf book section. The part will also contain a reference to one of the forum boards, and probably a clue as to the book used for that part's book section. Chapters usually take sections from the same book in each part.
You locate the next part by using the following link as a base:
daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=
&action=display&thread=&page=1#-Use the board name in the board name section in the following format: general, forge, tots, news, wwatch, dorm, lorefire etc)
Use the book number as a basis for the thread number, adding any other numbers as asked
-Use the book number as basis of the thread number
-Use the section number as the basis for the page number, ensuring 1# is infront.
For the above page/thread numbers, the part may request you add a number to start of the book/section numbers to create the thread/page references for the link.
For example:
A part mentions news, contains a block of text from book 8 section 29, and asks you to add +6 to your next tracking attempt.
The link you would need to follow would be:
daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=news&action=display&thread=68&page=1#629
Sound good instead of confusing? Sound exciting rather than scary? Great! Read the section below, and get going! When you think you can go no further, or if you manage to reach the THRILLING conclusion, PM me the list of links you have followed. If you manage to track the links some other way, don't worry about it - after all, that's a brilliant use of the Tracking skill too! So let's start!
Edit: Contest closed, full story and solution below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1: An urgent mission.
You have quickly departed from the Tower of the Sun and out of the monastery with an urgent mission. Your masters have sent you out to track the stolen Dagger of Vashna. Your only lead is that a suspicious wolf creature was last seen hanging around the monastery.
You are very aware that you are rushing through the forest as Lone Wolf once did in his first days. At least you know the monastery and your kin will be awaiting you when you return.
The forest is becoming denser, and the path more tangled with thorny briars. Almost completely hidden by the undergrowth, you notice another path branching off towards the east. Your current route seems to be coming to a prickly end, so you decide to follow the new path eastwards. (book 1, section 35)
You only hope you can use your skills to track the creature through here! Add +2 to the start of your numbers in this attempt.
Chapter 2: Welcome to Ragadorn
You have tracked your prey for days through forest then scrub, through Sommerlund to the Wildlands, and finally to Ragadorn. Where once Lone Wolf came by accidnt, you now come on purpose. You have not spotted the creature yet, just its tracks. Now the dirt tracks have finally been lost to the cobbles of a town, and you realise you will need to use your skills to inflitrate the underground here and find a lead. Surely something as unusual as a wolf creature would not go unnoticed! Perhaps the creature requires aid. You focus your disciplines to determine the direction of the shadiest part of this place, and take the nearest street.
You follow this rat-infested street as it drops steeply to the wharfs and jetties of the River Dorn. From the edge of the waterfront, you see the Ragadorn bridge. It is the only crossing between the east and west sides of this sleazy port. (book 2 , section 20)
Have your skills failed you, or have you come to the correct place? Will someone be able to shed any light on your quest? Add +3 to the start of your numbers in this attempt.
You get a good lead from one of the beggars about a man who is not fussy as to his customers, and can arrange many things for many people. The beggar did not volunteer this information out of some spirit of civic duty, but for some gold crowns, whch is why you trust the lead. The man you seek is based in a tavern closeby, which is fortunate as you fear the trail is getting colder the more you chase around. Taking a deep breath, and praying to Kai this is not a dead end, you enter.
Casting your eye around the crowded tavern, you notice that many of the locals are playing various gambling games. Near to the main door, a young rogue has three upturned wooden cups on the table in front of him. He spins them around and challenges anyone to point out the cup that contains a small glass marble. (book 2, section 25)
The man is clearly cheating, just as he does with his other card and dice games also going on at the table. You also hope your skills have not let you down, and he is indeed the man you seek. Add +3 to the end of your numbers in this attempt.
"I know nothing about a wolf creature!" the man spits, trying to turn away. You simply smile, as all you said was you were tracking a creature in general, not a wolf specifically. He seems to realise his mistake a second later. He acts as if he is ignoring you and concentrating on the various groups betting with him.
All of a sudden, he turns on his heel with a dagger brandished and lunges for you. It was an obvious move, and you were prepared for it. Sadly, he was not prepared for your quick movements in return and he slips, falling hard on his own knife and killing himself instantly.
The trickster lies dead at your feet. Rolling him over with your foot, you remove several cards from the sleeves of his jacket and throw them on the table. The crowd soon disperses and the tavern is a bustle of noise and activity once more. (book 2, section 21)
Just as you curse your luck, you spot something at the back door - it is the wolf! He spots you a fraction of a second later on, and in a blink he is gone. You are instantly on the move, already steeling yourself to using all your skills to trace his path the second you hit the back alleys. There is no need to add anything to your numbers for this attempt.
You move with grace through the various back alleys, pressing your prey hard. It has tremendous strength and speed, but obviously does not know this place at all. It seems to realise your superior skills will let you catch up, and it moves towards the edges of town, where the old pirate caves are.
In days passed, when Ragadorn was a little bit more respectable, pirates used to have to hide their ships here. Now these places have become part of the overspill for the harbour general storage. A semi-lit opening catches both your eyes, and it makes towards the door-like gap without looking back.
You chase the furry creature as it hurries along a narrow, twisting passage for nearly ten minutes and are about to give up the chase when the passage opens out into a huge torchlit cavern. A stunning sight greets your eyes. (book 2, section 23)
Have your skills betrayed you, or have they steered you true? There is no need to add anything to your numbers this attempt.
Chapter 3: The Set-up
Boxes and crates of all sizes lines the floor and craggy shelves on the walls of this immense place. A small tributary of the river flows through here, and you realise that it must have been an easy way for people to smuggle items passed inspection and duty charges to meet with boats directly in times passed.
You try to scan for your furry friend, but suddenly your senses scream a warning at you. A figure dressed in plate mail steps out from the side of the opening, having been hidden there.
The ambush is so sudden and so swift that only luck can save you now. (book 6, section 97)
You throw yourself to the ground and use all your skills learned in the Lorehall of Fire to roll back up again. Luck stops you from being severed by the attacker's fist blow, but your combined disciplines stop a second blow from ever coming. The now dead man dressed in black plate mail reminds you of the description of Roark's sister whom attacked Lone Wolf at the Denka Gate. Still, this assassin is a man, a Vassgonian no less, and you shudder as you see the symbol on his face - he was an Acolyte of Vashna!
What have you uncovered? More importantly, can you get back on the trail of the wolf creature? Add +2 to the start of your numbers for this attempt.
You keep following the wolf's trail. He appears to be backtracking out of the cavern system and upstream along the river away from the city and the sea. There seems to be some activity there, but the need for urgency spurs you on without fear.
Ogron engineers and carpenters are busy at work constructing pontoons for floating bridges, which look like enclosed rowing boats and are destined to be used to cross the river further downstream.
Staring out across the water, you notice a dark shadow like the entrance to a cave at the base of the city wall. After concentrating for a few moments, you find you can make out the dull criss-cross of metal bars. It is a sewer outfall. (book 6, section 70)
All signs point to the wolf having gone that way. You are aware of how precariously you will be positioned entering it, but you have to stop the wolf, whatever it is doing. The Dagger must not fall in to the hand of cultists! You decide to risk caution for speed.
However, your worst fears become confirmed. Just as you try to slide down the sewer outfall, rough hand grab you and pull you down. You expect to see a wolf, but instead a group of Vassgonians face you, holding you fast despite your struggling. The wolf is already bound, apparently unconscious. "We have our true sacrifice! Now we will succeed!" says one of the men as he viciously stabs you with a blow from the dagger forged by Vashna himself.
Will you wake up again? Will you know where you are? Gain a +7 at the start of the numbers you use for this attempt.
You come too in a makeshif cell made of a deadend sewer passage. You realise the air is unnaturally cold. It reminds you of Ixia for some reason. Your belly wound has not been tended to well, rough bandages barely stopping the bloodflow. You wonder why you have been so poorly treated until you look up and see the horde of undead coming towards you. They have already ripped apart your gailors, and they then tear apart the grate that has been your cell door. No wonder you were reminded of Ixia!
Is it too late? Has Vashna arisen? No, surely you have not been unconscious so long, the time of month would not be right and you must still be below Ragadorn. The Vassgonians must have performed some ritual with the dagger to raise some of his recovered warriors though, and now they are paying the price for their lack of control. Hopefully some of your fellows will not just be on the west watch, and will look to their backs for a new threat from Ragadorn if you fail to stop it now!
Groaning from the pain of your wound, you stagger to your feet and barge your way through the skeletal warriors who are now clustered in the doorway to the cell. The speed of your action, so soon after receiving a wound that would have killed outright any lesser mortal, takes the group by surprise and leaves them sprawled helplessly on the ground. By the time they have untangled themselves and found their feet, you are nowhere to be seen.
When you are sure that you are not being followed, you pause for a few moments to attend to your wounded stomach. Once you have staunched the bleeding, you then use your Magnakai skill of Nexus in an attempt to determine the location of your missing weapons and equipment. You sense they are not too distant and, guided by your intuition, you go off along an adjoining passageway in search of them. (book 17, section 306)
Will you find your equipment, your way out, and the odd wolf creature? Add +1 to the start of the numbers you use in this attempt.
Chapter 4: Evil Turns on Itself
For a moment you fear you have been transported to the Maakengorge itself, to the site of the original attempt to ressurect Vashna - the heat makes you stagger. However, it is the normal air of Sommerlund, and the counterpoint is to the chill of the air before. You find the wolf creature in some form of dormitory for sewer staff, and the creature has already freed himself.
"I work for the Elder Magi of Dessi," he explains, "we discovered a group of rogue Vassgonians were planning something. I have trailed them for weeks. I fear I was too late to stop them from stealing the Dagger, and apparently they had prepared some bodies to practise their raising of the dead on before they journeyed onwards to the Maakengorge."
"They do not have the powers of control, they are being wiped out," you say with a grim smile. "However, we need to find their leader. He must still have the Dagger if the dead still live!" So saying, you move swiftly on the trail of the living Vassgonians.
It seems odd to now be tracking with the wolf, instead of tracking the wolf itself. However, before long you find your way out of this twisted underground maze and back out to the light. You do not get a chance to celebrate however. Two escaping Vassgonians, mounted, have spotted you. The leader that stabbed you, still with the dagger, urges his fellow to run you both down. The wolf leaps out snarling, and the horse panics and throws his rider. The horse slips and the wolf gets pinned under the panicking horse. The man stands up angrily and charges at you.
You are in combat with a Vassagonian horseman who is now on foot. You cannot evade him and must fight him to the death. (book 4, section 90)
Things will go badly for you unless your tracking skill had let you find your equipment earlier. You gain +5 to the start of all numbers for this attempt.
Your tracking skills had served you well, and had secured you your weapons. You make short work of the horseman, even though he seems a decent soldier and not some rogue priest. The wolf is still pinned below the fallen horse as more Vassgonians and the undead have started to come forth from the sewer exit.
Something burns fiercely inside the sewer letting smoke drift upwards from the opening. Meanwhile skeletons and Vassgonians fight furiously. You ignore it all however, for the Vassgonian leader - some form of officer - must not be allowed to escape! Your Vow of Solaris will not allow it!
"Quick, use this!" yells the wolf, still pushing the horse from himself. He throws a bow then arrow he has recovered from the saddlebags. You grab the bow out of the air, and quickly recover the arrow and notch it. The leader senses your intentions, and quickly scrabbles on to a horse he has recovered, ready to make his escape.
The arrow arcs through the smoke-blackened sky and pierces the officer's shining breastplate. You hear his scream of pain ring out above the din of battle and watch as his cruel eyes flicker and close. He swoons and slips from his saddle, your arrow lodged deep in his heart. (book 4, section 39)
However, your victory is short lived. Even as the skeletons - who have murdered most of the other Vasgonians - fall down, one wounded Vassgonian scrambles on to the horse of his leader. "The Dagger, I can see it tied to the saddle! Don't let him leave!" yells the wolf as he struggles painfully from under the horse and collapses exhausted. Your blood runs cold. One last time, you skills are required to quickly work out the best way to head off a mounted man. Add +3 to the numbers you use in this attempt.
Your skills let you instinctively know the shape of the landscape. You move diagonally uphill knowing your foe will have to skirt around. He also has trouble, wounded as he is, with controlling his horse.
It is an easy tackle as you leap from height and bring him down off the horse. "Vashna will rise, one day!" he gasps, but the fall has worsened his wounds and he dies.
"Not today," you say, calming the horse and taking the Dagger from the saddle to place in your belt for safekeeping. You climb on to the horse, and go back to pick up the wolf.
You have managed to 'capture' the wolf, and more importantly you have recovered the Dagger of Vashna and save Magnamund from a fearsome foe rising. Well done you great big hero you!
