212
You place the ‘four of hearts’ on the discard pile and pick a new stone from the bag. You have gained the ‘three of crowns’.
You have the following stones:
The monk decides to play his hand. Turn to 718.
213
Quickly, you select the tile and push it into the square-shaped hole. The moment it settles into place, the glyphs give a pulse of greenish light, then the stone starts to move. You back away in surprise, watching in bewilderment as the top half of the slab revolves and pivots aside, revealing a secret cavity carved into the lower section.
You lean forward, excited by what you might find inside. However, instead of gold or some exciting magical treasure, you discover nothing more than a plain-looking rock resting on a square of tanned leather. You reach inside and pick it up, surprised to find that its dark surface is vibrating slightly. Veins of emerald branch through it, glowing softly like the runes carved into the standing stone. If you wish, you may now take:
Stardust
(talisman)
Ability: charm
A nearby cry forces you back to your feet. Quickly, you pocket your find and hurry for the cover of the trees, not wishing to be discovered by the fengle’s companions. Turn to 175.
214
Your sled is unable to withstand the merciless pounding of the rough terrain. First one of your runners snaps, then the sled itself is flipped over, smashing to pieces against the hard ice.
You have failed to complete the race and are now disqualified from the tournament. Replace the keyword veteran with underdog. Return to the map to continue your adventure.
215
You learn from Aslev that the einherjar are an ancient order of warriors, sworn to protect the Drokke and the Hall of Vindsvall. Their magic comes from the Dwarves – the ability to carve enchanted horns to channel their spirit into powerful spells and charms.
If you wish, you may now equip the following item:
North wind
(left hand: horn)
+2 speed +2 brawn
Ability: windblast
(requirement: warrior)
The einherjar has the following special abilities:
Sound the charge! (sp + co): (requires a horn in the left hand) Roll an extra die for your attack speed. If you win the combat round, you may also roll an extra die for your damage score. This ability can only be used once per combat.
Rallying call (co): (requires a horn in the left hand) Instead of rolling for a damage score you can issue a rallying call. This instantly restores 6 health and raises your brawn by 2 for the next combat round only.
You may now return to the map. When you are ready to re-join Skoll and Anise, select the Boss Monster encounter (the skull icon) to begin the next stage of your journey.
216
You help to unhitch the horse from the cart. It is a strong shire horse, probably used to pulling ploughs before it ended up at the Rift – a detail you suspect Mitch noticed, being a farmer. Using a length of rope from the cart, Mitch fastens one end around the horse and makes a noose with the other. After several failed attempts he manages to lasso the flailing beast, the rope settling across a shoulder and hooking underneath an arm.
‘Got some skill, this kid,’ says Kirk, spectating from a nearby rock. He chews on some dried meat, then tosses it to Lawson. ‘Might just work, this. But keep an arrow ready. If things go berserk . . .’
Lawson chuckles, ignoring Mitch’s angered glare.
‘Come on!’ the boy urges. ‘We can do this.’
The horse takes the strain and begins to heave up the slope. At first the yeti pulls back in resistance, driven by its panicked efforts to free itself – but against the rope and the tar, its strength is soon spent.
Slowly but surely, the tar-covered yeti is dragged onto the shore. Mitch punches the air, grinning like he just won the Capital Games. You back away, wary of what the creature might do.
‘It’s dead,’ says Henna, a hint of irritation in her voice.
‘It certainly ain’t moving,’ says Kirk, pushing himself back up. ‘Stick it with an arrow, Law, just to be sure.’
Mitch steps closer to the beast. ‘Wait, I don’t think . . .’
The arrow leaves the bow and thuds into the shaggy body. There is an almighty roar as the yeti rises up, arms swinging round, black tar showering through the air. You hear an eye-wincing crack. Mitch goes sailing back, his neck twisted at a funny angle. He crashes down amongst a tangle of grass and rock.
Before anyone has a chance to go to his aid the yeti is rearing up, beating its chest with two enormous fists. Then it is charging towards you, its mouth opening wide to reveal a frightening chasm of yellowed fangs. It is time to fight:
Speed Brawn Armour Health
Tarred yeti 1 2 1 25
Special abilities
Treacle tar: Each time the yeti wins a combat round and causes health damage to your hero, you must lower your speed by 1 for the next combat round only.
Outnumbered: Your companions add 2 to your damage score for the duration of this combat.
If you manage to overpower this ferocious monster, turn to 350. If you lose the combat, remember to record your defeat on your hero sheet. You may then attempt the combat again or return to the map.
217
You back away from the creature’s remains, a hot sensation burning along your limbs. Where the creature’s claws have dug into your flesh you see that the skin has become angry and red, as if infected by something.
‘Rift rot,’ says Anise grimly. ‘That can be nasty.’
You already feel your limbs weakening, a wave of sickness making you feel dizzy. ‘Can it be cured?’ you rasp, rubbing at the swellings.
‘You’ll need healing,’ she says. ‘And I doubt we’ll find any of that around here.’
You have been infected with the following disease:
Rift rot (pa): In future combats, you must lose 1 health at the end of each combat round for the duration of the combat. Rift rot can only be removed by drinking a health potion or using an item/ability that restores health. Once removed, you will no longer suffer its effects in combat.
Nursing your wounds, you cross the room into the adjoining passageway – more determined than ever to escape this cursed tower. Turn to 379.
218
‘Ryker was the prison warden, that’s how this place got its name. Then the prisoners broke out, took it over. Once the dust settled and they finally stopped beatin’ on each other, they chose a leader. They called him Ryker, just like the warden. It’s a title now more than a name. Think there’ve been two, three Rykers in all.’
‘And he’s inside the prison?’ You gesture to the pinnacle of rock rising up into the sky. Through the snow and haze, you can dimly make out tiny flickers of light.
‘Ah, the prison,’ the thief rubs his hands together nervously. ‘A dung heap of bad ones; yer think this is the worst of it, think again. Aye, we be thankin’ the maker, they keep themselves to themselves. You always knows a Ryker man by the red band around their arm. No-one messes with them folk, not even the whalers.’
To continue chatting to the thief, return to 288. To explore the rest of the compound, turn to 106.
219
‘A traveller, you say.’ The woman appears unconvinced. ‘And tell me, why would you be travelling these parts? For the scenery?’ She raises her eyebrows.
‘Not a traveller, a merchant,’ you correct quickly. ‘But I was set upon by bandits, back on the road. I was the only one to get away and . . .’
‘The only one? Who were you travelling with?’
You wince, cursing your slip up. ‘I met some others. We thought we’d travel together, for safety.’
‘Didn’t do you much good now, did it?’ The woman huffs, then she nods to your sword. ‘Tell me, did you steal that sword or were you taught to use it? A fine blade for a boy like you.’
You glance down at the holy sword, Duran’s Heart
– the named blade that was gifted to you for your thirteenth birthday. ‘I . . . it . . . I found it, yes. On one of the men who attacked us.’
‘A holy blade. And does that belong to the man also?’
Her eyes shift to the dried blood coating your sleeve. You look away, avoiding her glare. ‘He was . . . one of the bandits,’ you stutter, knowing the lie is written all over your face.
The woman shakes her head with a frown of disappointment. ‘You are a fool to think I’d believe your story. You are but a child. A thief, no doubt. One who got caught out, and now plans to rob me blind.’ She reaches into her basket and pulls out a knife. ‘Are you good with that blade, son? You had better be . . .’
‘No wait!’ You raise your hands imploringly. ‘I’m no thief. You can have the sword – I can’t even touch the cursed thing.’
The woman takes a step back. ‘Is this true?’ she gasps.
Too late, you realise what you have done, blurting out your secret with no mind to the consequences. To confess such a thing is almost tantamount to treason. ‘I can only touch the scabbard,’ you reply honestly, seeing no point in spinning out another lie now you’ve gone this far. ‘The inscriptions . . . if I put even a hand to them, they . . .’ You struggle for the words.
‘Reject you?’ the woman supplies thoughtfully.
You nod, trying to gauge her reaction. This secret is one you have only shared once before, with your nursemaid Molly. And you doubt she’ll be telling anyone now.
‘You’re no witchfinder, then,’ the woman appears to visibly relax. ‘Perhaps there is some truth in what you say after all.’ (Make a note of the word pauper on your hero sheet, then turn to 249.)
220
After several hundred metres, the floor of the shaft falls away into a slope of broken ice. Water pours out of several depressions in the wall, forming bright rivulets as they thread their way between the smoothed slabs.
You drop onto the slope, your feet immediately skidding on the wet ice. Flung onto your back, you slide down the water-scoured chute, landing in a tumble of limbs at the foot of the rubble. After brushing the wet ice from your clothes, you examine your new surroundings. Turn to 397.
221
You hoist the sack onto your shoulders, hoping that Everard will appreciate the return of his missing equipment. As the sun starts to dip towards the horizon, you leave the canyon and head back to the keep. (Make a note of the keyword trader on your hero sheet.) You may now return to the map to continue your adventure.
222
A morning haze still smokes across the ice as the tournament racers take their positions outside the prison walls. Beneath your sled’s runners the sheet is thin and fractured, creaking and snapping constantly as if it might give way at any moment. Only a few feet below the ice, you can see the ocean water rushing past in a trailing flurry of bubbles – promising a swift end to those unlucky enough to fall through.
Spectators line the wall, hooting and hollering for their favourite racers. From inside the compound, similar cries are also audible. Above your head, the yellow globes of the ‘canaries’ zip back and forth, feeding back images to the crowds in the prison.
Next to you, a female racer with blue-dyed hair is waving at the passing globes. She catches your eye and smiles. ‘You a newbie?’
You shrug your shoulders, confused.
‘Cute.’ She snaps a pair of goggles over her eyes, then takes up her dog whip. ‘Well, no going back now. This is it, honey. The dash for the cash.’
‘Racers ready!’
You twist round to see a fur-clad male standing on the wall, his face a mosaic of red and black markings. He raises his arm above his head, fingers pointed towards the pale sun. ‘Burn it up, people! Get set . . . GO!’ He looses a fireball into the sky, its vivid scarlet tail soaring up and over the ice.
Then the crisp air is shattered by the crack of whips and the scraping of sled runners as the dog-teams swarm out across the ice, hurtling forward like bullets shot from a flint-lock. The race is on!
For the first few minutes, you try and relax into the motion of the sled, barking commands to your dog-team as Leeta had instructed. The speed is exhilarating, but the ice is slippery and rent with fissures. Ahead of you, a sled is flipped up and over by one such fracture, the rider and his dog-team sent spinning through the air in a tangle of harnesses and splintered wood. The other racers break around the wreckage, their eyes set solely on the course ahead: a circuit of the frozen ice plain that circumvents Ryker’s island.
You career across the brittle ice, trying to maintain a steady line and keep your distance from the nearest sleds. Already several of the racers have broken away to take an early lead, whilst you remain neck-and-neck with the rest of the pack.
Suddenly, you notice a couple of sleds veer off the main course, their riders choosing to take a short cut over a ridged area of snow banks. If their gamble pays off, they will close the distance on the leaders.
Will you:
Cut across the snow banks? 126
Stay on the ice? 87
223
On reaching the battlements, you lean out over the nearest wall to view the landscape. For a moment you teeter on the edge of vertigo, your mind reeling from the scene before you.
‘Impressive, isn’t it?’ Everard steps beside you, placing his gloved hands on the snow-wet crenulations.
You have read many books about Skardland and the area now known as Skardfall. In ages past, a great cataclysm ripped through the land, tearing it into impassable stretches of crevices and chasms. You had never expected to see it – but now you have, you realise that no description or artist’s painting could ever capture the raw and overpowering majesty of the Great Rift.
‘Meet mother nature,’ grins Everard. ‘A cruel parent, to be sure.’
You are silent, still struggling to take in the immensity of the canyon, its walls dropping away into an ominous pitch black. Beyond the shattered ridges and deep-scoured trenches, there lies a bleak country of hills and valleys. The snow has started to dress the higher terrain, but the rest of the land remains bare and brown, devoid of life.
‘This is the first snow we’ve had in nearly a year,’ Everard continues. ‘Trust me, this isn’t cold, boy. Not like what the north used to be like. But things are changing. Weather’s been getting warmer. Look, there – see those rocks?’
You follow his finger to the opposite side of the rift, where gnarly columns of rock arch over the dark abyss. ‘I’ve seen icicles hanging off those, long as these here walls.’ Everard snorts, shaking his head. ‘That was back in the day, when all we had to worry about were Skards and—’
Everard stops, frowning. ‘Agh, here we go again.’
You look sideways at him, confused. Then you feel it – the wall has started to vibrate. From an incessant humming beneath your palms it quickly becomes a violent tremor, shaking the foundations of the keep. You are thrown against the wall, gripping its side to maintain your balance. Across the rift you hear stones grating and moving. Plumes of thick, grey dust shower into the darkness.
Then the rumbling ceases and a heavy silence descends.
‘They’re getting worse,’ sighs Everard. He leans over the wall, eyes searching the rift. ‘Started a couple of months back – minor quakes. Segg’s convinced they’re the start of something bigger.’ He looks over, smiling at your bewildered expression. ‘Don’t worry, Bitter Keep has stood through a lot worse. Nothing’s going to be moving this one, I promise you that.’
Will you:
Ask about the Skards? 81
Ask about the Keep’s defences? 130
Climb the stairs to the mage tower? 301
Return to the main courtyard? 113
224
Your goal in this quest is to successfully cross the rift and reach Mount Skringskal. To achieve this, you will need to overcome a number of obstacles and challenges. Your transport (either the Naglfar or Nidhogg) will take damage during the crossing, reducing
their speed, stability and toughness. These attributes can help your hero in combat, so it is in your interest to ensure that they stay as high as possible. The attributes provide the following bonuses in combat:
Tactical manoeuvres (co): If your transport has a speed of 5 or greater, you may use tactical manoeuvres. This allows you to avoid taking damage from your opponent/s in a single combat round and increases your hero’s speed by 2 for the next combat round only. This ability can only be used once per combat.
Armour plating (pa): For every 2 points of toughness that your transport has remaining (rounding down), you may increase your hero’s armour by 1 for the duration of the combat. (If your transport had a toughness of 9, you could increase your armour by 4.)
If your transport’s stability is reduced to zero, you can no longer use your transport’s combat ability (either the nail gun or dragon fire).
When you are ready to begin, turn to 60.
225
‘So, spending the night in a haunted tower . . .’ You tap a finger against your chin, thoughtfully. ‘No one else thinks this might be a bad idea?’
Anise slaps you on the shoulder. ‘Stop it! You’re worse than Jitters Jackson.’
‘Who?’ you ask in bemusement.
‘He works the trading post north of here. Sometimes I go with Everard. I can still speak a little Skard.’
‘Jitters is a Skard?’
‘No, silly, Jitters works for the White Wolf Company – the Skards go there from time to time to sell pelts and meat. Jitters is so scared of everything, he’s barricaded himself inside his own fortress. You rarely even see him.’
‘A mad fool is what he is,’ sniffs Harris. ‘Come on, I’m getting cold. We’re doing this – so no more complaining.’ (Return to 86 to ask another question or turn to 297 to continue on to the tower.)
226
Tired and miserable, you decide to tell the truth. The woman listens to your story in silence, her expression unchanging. As you draw to its end, choosing to omit the part about the strange demon, a hint of irritation creeps into your voice. Why doesn’t this woman show any concern or alarm? She didn’t flinch when you described the bloody massacre on the road or the very fact that you are a crown prince of the realm.
The Eye of Winter's Fury Page 21