Grey Star the Wizard

by Ian Page

  Turn to 43.

  345

  You concentrate, trying to visualize the threat before it happens, but you receive no vision from the future and conclude that whatever is menacing you must be something unknown to your experience. Instead, your mind rings with the warning: ‘Death from above.’ The use of this Magical Power has cost you 1 WILLPOWER point.

  Turn to 61.

  346

  As you and your companions stop to catch your breath, you turn and look behind. The citadel looms high above you, its bleak stone walls crumbling to the ground. It is enveloped by a strange mist, and the shadowy forms of the dead dance around it. Stone by stone they raze the prison to the ground. The shrieks and howls of the Shadakine echo beneath the starlit sky as they meet a grisly death at the hands of their past victims.

  ‘Was it you who called the dead?’ asks Tanith, her eyes wide. You nod, a chill running down the length of your spine.

  ‘A horrible death,’ she remarks coolly. ‘Shasarak would have approved.’ She seems unaware of the ironic nature of her statement as you hang your head in shame.

  Turn to 199.

  347

  Head bent low, you hurl yourself into the narrow tunnel. It slopes upwards, becoming narrower as it winds and curls like a snake. Ahead you see a lone worker Mantiz coming towards you, holding a large leaf in its pincers. Without hesitation, you dive over the Cave Mantiz, scraping your back against the walls and ceiling of the converging tunnels. A gout of acid misses your body by inches as you tumble to the ground on the other side of the insect. You roll over twice before leaping to your feet once more.

  Countless numbers of snapping, malicious insects pursue you, but far ahead you see a dim light which fills you with hope. A faint gust of air blows against your cheek, making you certain that this tunnel connects with the surface. You focus on the dim light and force your aching legs to propel you onwards.

  As you draw nearer the flood of light, you see that the tunnel ends at a blank wall. Your spirits sink: are you trapped after all?

  Turn to 47.

  348

  You pass into a state of shock, a semi-conscious state that blanks your mind, screening it from the Kazim Stone. Mother Magri gives a frustrated cry. You are beyond her grasp, safe in a realm of oblivion.

  Turn to 187.

  349

  It is Tanith, the girl in the service of Mother Magri. She is carrying your Wizard's Staff and Backpack. ‘Grey Star!’ she calls. ‘I've found you at last.’

  ‘We are trapped!’ shouts Shan. At the other end of the passage you can hear the echo of running feet and the rasping voice of Mother Magri ordering her Shadakine warriors to find you.

  If you wish to attack the young girl, turn to 173.

  If you wish to try to persuade her to relinquish your Staff and Backpack and let you pass, turn to 245.

  350

  A great hooting yell signifies the presence of others in the leaf-green light of the tree tops. Some forty apelike men with long tails swing bundles of smoking leaves at the end of lengths of vine. The smoke gives off a choking stench that throws the huge insects into confusion. Within a few moments, they have dropped from the branches of the tree or are scurrying back along the trunk, fleeing from the swirling fumes.

  Illustration XVIII—The strange stunted men use their tails to swing from tree limb to branch with astonishing ability, and flush out the insect invaders with practised ease.

  Through watering eyes, you watch the strange, stunted men using their tails to swing from tree limb to branch with astonishing agility, flushing out the insect invaders with practised ease. These are the Kundi. You have found the Lost Tribe of Lara.

  As you watch the one-sided battle draw to a close, two sets of hairy arms grab you and lift you bodily into the air. Your ape-like abductors carry you through the giddy heights, leaping and swinging from tree to tree, tossing you like a bale of hay. You are being carried through a fine mist of cloud, from which the Azawood tree draws much of its moisture. Up here, in the highest levels of the forest, is a complex of wooden houses and platforms. You are dumped unceremoniously outside the largest of these tree houses: the house of the Kundi king.

  The old king regards you with undisguised displeasure. ‘I am Okosa, Kundi king — why you come and who are you?’

  Quietly you tell the king of your quest for the Moonstone of the Shianti, your search for the Shadow Gate and your need of the magical Kundi vision to guide you there.

  ‘You no Shianti … You bring creeping death from below … Kundi guide you nowhere,’ he says, eyeing you suspiciously. No matter how you try, you cannot convince him that you are a Shianti wizard and that you were trying to escape from the terrible Mantiz attack, not leading it. He turns his back on you with a derisive snort.

  ‘I can make great magic,’ you say hopefully, ‘ancient magic, The Way of the Shianti.’

  ‘Wytch-king make magic, Shadakine make magic. This prove nothing,’ the king replies with a dismissive wave of the hand.

  ‘How then, can I prove the truth of my words to you?’ you ask, helplessly.

  The Kundi King gives you a sly look over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. ‘Prove?’ he says. ‘Yes, you prove many things, I think, when Urik, wise elder of the Kundi Tribe, has words with you. Then you see some Kundi magic! Not Shadakine spells and whispers.’

  Patiently, you wait. Faintly, you can hear the jingling of tiny bells and a hoarse voice chanting a monotonous rhythm, tunelessly. At length, a wizened old Kundi is led into the room. He is covered in bird feathers and numerous small bells, and his mad, bulging eyes roll around their sockets. The Kundi king and the old Kundi's escorts look to him with reverence, for he is their Shaman and a respected figure in their society. To your eyes, however, he looks faintly ridiculous, shambling around you in a comic, bowlegged dance, waving and rattling a strange, fur-covered talisman in your face and repeating his dissonant litany in an endless monotone. Your own instinctive powers tell you that no magic is being performed here, and you look with interest, curious to see what happens next. Suddenly the mad old Kundi falls silent. He is short of breath, his bony chest wheezing. He bares the blackened stumps of his rotten teeth, and pressing his face close to yours, so close that you can smell the stink of his fetid breath, he speaks to you.

  Illustration XIX—A wizened old Kundi covered in bird feathers and numerous small bells is led into the room.

  ‘You no look like Shianti,’ he says, looking you up and down with a theatrical gesture.

  ‘Shianti wizard,’ you correct, drawing no response.

  ‘You no feel like Shianti,’ Urik continues, running his leathery fingertips along the filthy, tattered remains of your robe. He wrinkles his nose. ‘You no smell like Shianti … smell more like swamp!’ he says, exploding into a great fit of hoarse laughter, clapping his hands with glee.

  ‘You see Shianti, you say?’ he then asks, his eyes narrowing.

  You nod your assent.

  ‘The youngest Kundi child knows the “riddle of the Shianti”. If you have truly looked upon them, then you will know the answer.’

  The fate of your quest hangs upon the words of a child's nursery rhyme, it seems. Okosa, the Kundi king, agrees to grant you a guide to the Shadow Gate, only if you can answer the old Shaman's rhyme. Anxiously, you listen to his words, burning them into your mind.

  ‘Answer me this, wizard … ’

  ‘Wise Shianti and Kundi man,

  Look eye to eye in tree,

  Shianti man see Kundi man,

  But what does Kundi see?’

  The solution to the rhyme can be found in part two of the Grey Star series:

  The Forbidden City

  Numbered Sections

  1-10: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  11-20: 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

  21-30: 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

  31-40: 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

  41-50: 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

  51-60: 51 52 53 5
4 55 56 57 58 59 60

  61-70: 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

  71-80: 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

  81-90: 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

  91-100: 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

  101-110: 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110

  111-120: 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120

  121-130: 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130

  131-140: 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140

  141-150: 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

  151-160: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160

  161-170: 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170

  171-180: 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180

  181-190: 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190

  191-200: 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200

  201-210: 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210

  211-220: 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220

  221-230: 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

  231-240: 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240

  241-250: 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250

  251-260: 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260

  261-270: 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270

  271-280: 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280

  281-290: 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290

  291-300: 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300

  301-310: 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310

  311-320: 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320

  321-330: 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330

  331-340: 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340

  341-350: 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350

  The Shadakine Empire

  Action Chart

  Combat Rules Summary

  Calculate your COMBAT SKILL based on the weapon that you are using.

  Subtract the COMBAT SKILL of your enemy from this total. This number = Combat Ratio.

  If using your Wizard's Staff, note the number of WILLPOWER points you wish to expend.

  Pick a number from the Random Number Table.

  Turn to the Combat Results Table.

  Find your Combat Ratio on the top of the chart and cross-reference to the random number you have picked. (E indicates loss of ENDURANCE points to Enemy. GS indicates loss of ENDURANCE points to Grey Star.)

  Multiply the enemy's lost ENDURANCE points by the number of WILLPOWER points used.

  Continue the combat from Stage 3 until one character is dead. This is when ENDURANCE points of either character fall to 0 or below.

  To Evade Combat

  You may only evade combat when the text of the adventure offers you the opportunity.

  You undertake one round of combat in the usual way. All points lost by the enemy are ignored, only Grey Star loses ENDURANCE points.

  If the book offers the chance of taking evasive action in place of combat, it can be taken in the first round of combat or any subsequent round.

  Combat Results Table

  Random Number Table

  Errata

  Introduction

  We have taken our unique opportunity to correct errors and to enforce a standard of English usage. We list our changes here. If you see anything that needs correction, please contact the Project Aon Staff.

  Errata List

  (Title Page) Replaced ‘IN THE WORLD OF LONE WOLF A NEW HERO HAS ARISEN — GREY STAR THE WIZARD’ with ‘In the World of Lone Wolf a new hero has arisen — Grey Star the Wizard’. Replaced ‘Shadakine’ with ‘Shadaki’. Replaced ‘GREY STAR’ with ‘The World of Lone Wolf’.

  (Of the Coming of Grey Star) Replaced ‘gods, the’ with ‘gods the’. Replaced ‘the Earth’ with ‘Magnamund’. Replaced ‘us Great’ with ‘us, Great’. Replaced ‘remain you’ with ‘remain, you’. Replaced ‘new found’ with ‘newfound’. Replaced ‘rule. And as’ with ‘rule. As’. Replaced ‘mists and’ with ‘mists, and’. Replaced ‘forests and’ with ‘forests, and’.

  (The Story So Far) Replaced the second occurrence of ‘ ‘Shadow Gate’ ’ with ‘Shadow Gate’. Replaced ‘day no’ with ‘day, no’. Replaced ‘eyes, ‘The’ with ‘eyes. ‘The’.

  (The Game Rules) Removed ‘at the front of this book. If you run out of space, you can copy out the chart or have it photocopied’. Removed ‘on the last page of this book’. Replaced ‘adventure and’ with ‘adventure, and’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘eg’ with ‘e.g.’. Replaced ‘fall to zero’ with ‘fall to zero or below’. Replaced ‘falls to zero’ with ‘falls to zero or below’. Replaced ‘on to’ with ‘onto’. Replaced ‘Action Chart. (eg, if’ with ‘Action Chart. (e.g. if’. Replaced ‘of 14.) When’ with ‘of 14). When’.

  (Magical Powers) Replaced each occurrence of ‘ie’ with ‘i.e.’. Replaced occurrences of ‘eg’ with ‘e.g.’. Replaced ‘alchemy’ with ‘Alchemy’. Replaced both occurrences of ‘prophecy’ with ‘Prophecy’. Replaced ‘fortell’ with ‘foretell’. Replaced ‘Chart..’ with ‘Chart.’. Replaced ‘quarterstaff yet’ with ‘quarterstaff, yet’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘magical powers’ with ‘Magical Powers’. Replaced ‘magical power’ with ‘Magical Power’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘five powers’ with ‘five Powers’. Replaced each occurrence of ‘power’ with ‘Power’, except in the description of the Wizard's Staff. Replaced each occurrence of ‘lesser magicks’ with ‘Lesser Magicks’. Replaced ‘Eart and’ with ‘Earth, and’. Replaced ‘mind or’ with ‘mind, or’. Replaced ‘will be of use’ with ‘may be of use’.

  (Equipment) Replaced ‘six’ with ‘eight’ according to a correction made in a Lone Wolf Club Newsletter. Replaced ‘sulphur’ with ‘Sulphur’. Replaced ‘saltpetre’ with ‘Saltpetre’. Replaced ‘vial’ with ‘Vial’ within the Herb Pouch contents list. Replaced each occurrence of ‘Item).’ with ‘Item)’. Replaced ‘notes but’ with ‘notes, but’. Replaced both occurrences of ‘your Belt Pouch’ with ‘the pocket of your robe’. Replaced ‘Shianti and’ with ‘Shianti, and’. Replaced ‘are, is’ with ‘are is’. Replaced ‘two weapons’ with ‘two Weapons’. Replaced ‘WILLPOWER or’ with ‘WILLPOWER, or’.

  (Rules for Combat) Replaced ‘of chart’ with ‘of the chart’. Replaced ‘to random’ with ‘to the random’. Replaced ‘to 0’ with ‘0 or below’. Replaced ‘on the page after the Random Number Table’ with ‘in the back of this book’. Replaced ‘the one with the zero score’ with ‘that combatant’. Replaced ‘reduced to zero’ with ‘reduced to zero or below’. Replaced ‘points reduced’ with ‘points possibly reduced’. Replaced ‘multiply this by’ with ‘multiply the number listed for the enemy by’. Replaced ‘use, and have’ with ‘use and have’.

  (Sage Advice) Removed ‘at the front of this book’. Replaced ‘score of zero WILLPOWER points’ with ‘WILLPOWER score of zero or below’. Replaced ‘all, so’ with ‘all; so’. Replaced ‘Grey Star adventures’ with ‘Grey Star adventures’ when referring to the series.

  (1) Replaced ‘this power’ with ‘this Power’. Added a period to the end of the illustration's caption. Replaced ‘or do’ with ‘or if you do’. Replaced ‘Kundi race that are’ with ‘Kundi race that is’.

  (3) Replaced ‘road and, after’ with ‘road, and after’. Replaced ‘clearing, sheltered’ with ‘clearing sheltered’. Replaced ‘points. Your remaining 2 Meals must be given to Tanith and Shan.’ with ‘points, and 2 Meals (if you have any left) must be given to Tanith and Shan.’. Replaced ‘place but’ with ‘place, but’.

  (4) Replaced ‘desperation you’ with ‘desperation, you’. Replaced ‘on to’ with ‘ onto’.

  (6) Replaced ‘cliff face’ with ‘cliff-face’.

  (8) Replaced ‘rough hewn’ with ‘rough-hewn’.

  (10) Replaced ‘turn to 102’ with ‘turn to 90’. Section 90 was unreachable in the original and fits well in the context of the story here.

  (13) Replaced ‘edge you’ with ‘edge, you’. R
eplaced ‘passed but’ with ‘passed, but’.

  (14) Replaced ‘tomb and’ with ‘tomb, and’.

  (15) Replaced ‘restore ENDURANCE’ with ‘restore your ENDURANCE’.

  (16) Replaced ‘your Belt Pouch’ with ‘the pocket of your robe’.

  (17) Replaced ‘Shenwu and’ with ‘Shenwu, and’. Replaced ‘minutes you’ with ‘minutes, you’. Replaced ‘victim and’ with ‘victim, and’. Replaced ‘head first’ with ‘head-first’.

  (18) Replaced ‘I for one have’ with ‘I, for one, have’. Replaced ‘I too,’ with ‘I, too,’. Replaced ‘moving for’ with ‘moving, for’. Replaced ‘Tanith, ‘We’ with ‘Tanith, ‘we’. Replaced ‘ ‘He Who Serves No Master’ ’ with ‘ ‘He Who Serves No Master’ ’. Added ‘ and the Vial of Pink Liquid’ to the first choice, since Section 264 assumes that you possess both items. Replaced ‘leadership; a’ with ‘leadership: a’. Added a period to the end of the illustration's caption.

  (19) Replaced ‘continue your’ with ‘continue, your’. Replaced ‘Then finally’ with ‘Then, finally’. Replaced ‘these Items’ with ‘these items’. Replaced ‘Tinderbox and’ with ‘Tinderbox, and’. Replaced ‘or do’ with ‘or if you do’.

  (20) Replaced ‘back and’ with ‘back, and’.

  (21) Replaced ‘shortsword’ with ‘short sword’. Replaced ‘camp fire’ with ‘campfire’.

  (22) Replaced ‘darkness and’ with ‘darkness, and’. Replaced ‘it and’ with ‘it, and’.

  (23) Replaced ‘stairways both’ with ‘stairways — both’. Replaced ‘power of Prophecy’ with ‘Power of Prophecy’.