* Modifier (mo): Modifier abilities allow you to boost your attribute scores or influence dice that you have already rolled. You can use as many different modifier abilities as you wish during a combat round.
* Passive (pa): Passive abilities are typically applied at the end of a combat round, once you or your opponent has taken health damage. Abilities such as venom and bleed are passive abilities. These abilities happen automatically, based on their description.
Damage score and damage dice
Some special abilities will refer to a damage score and others will refer to rolling damage dice. A damage score is when your hero rolls one die and adds their brawn or magic to the total (as in the previous combat example). This is the most common means of applying damage to your opponent. Some abilities allow you to roll damage dice instead. Damage dice are simply dice that are rolled for damage, but you do not add your brawn or magic score to the total. For example, the special ability cleave allows you to inflict 1 damage die to all your opponents, ignoring armour. You would simply roll 1 die and then deduct the result from each of your opponents’ health. You do not add your brawn or magic to this total.
Using backpack items in combat
The outcome of many a combat can be decided by the clever use of backpack items, such as potions and elixirs. From restoring lost health to boosting your speed, never underestimate how useful these items can be in turning the tide of battle. However, you can only use one backpack item per combat round so choose wisely! Also note that every useable backpack item has a number of charges. Once these have been used up, they are gone forever.
Runes, glyphs, dyes and other special items
During your adventures, you will come across a number of special items that allow you to add attribute bonuses or additional abilities to the equipment you are already wearing. These items cannot be stored in your backpack and must be used immediately when they are found, to add their relevant attribute/ability to a chosen item. Each item of equipment can hold up to three of these special bonuses.
Death is not the end
When your hero dies, their adventure isn’t over. Simply make a note of the entry number where you died and then return to the quest map. Your health is immediately restored back to full. However any consumable items that were used in the combat (such as potions and elixirs) are gone forever!
You can now do the following:
1. Return to the entry number where you died and try it again.
2. Explore a different location on the map, such as a town or another quest.
You can return to the entry number where you died anytime you wish. If you are having difficulty with a particular combat, then try a different quest, or purchase some helpful potions or items from a local vendor.
NOTE: In some quests, when your hero is defeated, there are special rules to follow. You will be given an entry number to turn to, where you can read on to see what happens to your hero.
Taking challenge tests
Occasionally, during your travels, you will be asked to take a challenge by testing one of your attributes (such as speed or brawn). Each challenge is given a number. For example:
Speed
Climb the cliff face
9
To take a challenge, simply roll 2 dice and add your hero’s attribute score to the result. If the total is the same as or higher than the given number, then you have succeeded. For example, if Sir Hugo has a speed of 4 and rolls a and a , then he would have a total of 9. This means he would have successfully completed the above challenge.
Advanced rules: Team combat
Occasionally some monsters are just too powerful to overcome, even for your hero. To stand a chance of defeating these epic foes you will need to team up with your hero (or a friend’s hero) from DestinyQuest 1: The Legion of Shadow. (A sample hero is provided at the front of this book.)
A team combat is shown on the map as a black sword symbol. These battles follow a slightly different set of combat rules to take into account two heroes fighting alongside each other against a powerful opponent.
The combat sequence
In each combat round:
1. Each hero can decide if they will attack or support. If a hero attacks they roll for their attack speed as normal (using speed abilities if they wish). If one hero chooses to be a support hero, then they do not roll for attack speed. (See support hero, below.) One hero must attack in each round.
2. Roll 2 dice for your opponent and add their speed score to the total. This is your opponent’s attack speed.
3. The combatant with the highest attack speed wins the combat round. If the highest set of scores are the same (for a hero and their opponent), it is a stand off – the combat round ends (see step 6) and a new one begins. If two attacking heroes get the same score, then they can choose which hero will strike against the opponent.
4. If a hero wins a combat round, they can roll for damage as normal against their opponent. Damage is applied and the combat round ends (see step 6).
5. If the opponent wins the combat round, then they strike against the hero who last dealt health damage to them (this excludes passive effects, such as bleed and venom). If no hero has caused health damage, then the opponent strikes against the hero with the highest armour. The hero who is being attacked can use their combat and modifier abilities as normal. Their ally can also play any helpful modifier abilities (depending on the ability’s description).
6. At the end of each combat round, any damage from passive effects (such as bleed or venom) are applied to each combatant. If opponents still have health remaining, then a new combat round begins. Return to step 1.
Support heroes
Heroes who choose not to attack during a combat round (see step 1) are referred to as support heroes. They can still be hit in combat if the opponent wins (see step 5), but by choosing not to attack they give their ally a chance to win combat rounds and apply abilities/damage. A support hero can use modifier abilities on themselves or their ally as normal (depending on the ability’s description). This includes abilities like heal and greater heal.
* Top tip: Swap your heroes regularly, between attacking and support, to share out damage. Remember, an opponent always attacks the last hero to win a round and cause health damage – so your heavy hitters (such as mages and rogues) need to be careful that they don’t become the sole target of the opponent’s attacks. Swapping a hero into a support role, while their ally becomes the sole attacker, can be a vital strategy to control an opponent’s aggression.
Passive abilities
If both heroes have the same passive effect (such as bleed or venom) then these abilities can all be applied to an opponent (providing each hero has met the criteria for applying that passive). For example, if both heroes have the bleed ability and both have done health damage to their opponent, then the opponent takes damage from each bleed effect (2 damage (1+1) at the end of each round).
Defeating and looting an epic monster
Providing one hero is still alive at the end of the combat, then both heroes are considered to have defeated the monster. This means that each hero can now choose one reward from those on offer. (NOTE: a hero can only choose a reward when they defeat the monster for the first time. If they fight the monster multiple times to aid other heroes then they cannot choose further rewards.)
Take your adventures online!
Join the DestinyQuest community at www.destiny-quest.com for the latest information on DestinyQuest books, hints and tips, player forums and exclusive downloadable content (including printable hero sheets, team combat rules and extra bonus quests!).
It’s time to begin
Before you start your adventure, don’t forget to check that your hero sheet has been fully updated. It should display:
* Your hero’s name
* A zero score in the speed, brawn, magic, and armour boxes
* A 30 in your hero’s health box
Now, turn the page to begin your adventure . . .
Prologue:
The Great Escape
You are in free fall.
The black rock of the mountainside streaks past in a deadly blur. Your descent is fast – unstoppable. You can only watch, paralysed by fear, as the world tumbles through blue sky and earth. Then a wave of ash washes over you, turning bright day into a murky twilight.
Through the thickening dust, you see the ground spiralling up at an alarming speed; a pock-marked plain of splintered rock and fire-rimmed craters. Behind you, something rumbles and booms . . . then you feel a scalding heat at your back. For an instant the darkness becomes light as an immense ball of flame roars overhead, slamming into the ground and sending ash billowing across the hellish plain.
You spin and twist through the smoke, your broken body smashing off rock and stone as you tumble down the slope. You finally slam down hard onto baking hot ash, your exposed skin blistering on contact.
Gagging from the sulphurous fumes, you struggle onto your back, aware that the ground beneath you is shaking. From the dark sky falling stone beats against the earth, bouncing and rattling off your soot-streaked armour. Shielding your eyes against the barrage, you fix your gaze on the dark mountain. Through the ash you can dimly make out its summit, fountaining an endless column of rock and earth into the sky.
This is the end of the world.
And you are here to see it.
The ground shakes, a continuous and steady rhythm. You twist around, as you have done a hundred times before, to gaze upon your nemesis. It strides through the smoke, a shadow amidst the swirling red ash. An immense creature, impossibly large, with black wings and iron-tipped horns that blot out the broken landscape. Its charred body is crisscrossed with vivid veins of magma, pulsing with a hellish glow. And in its hand is a sword – a sword as big as the mountain itself, its serrated edge crackling with fire.
‘NO!’ Tears sting your eyes as the demon stalks towards you. You cannot see its face, but its gaze is inescapable: a single orb of crimson hatred, blazing hot like the sun.
‘My journey is complete!’ The demon snarls, flames rippling across its body. ‘Ragnarok is remade!’
Scrambling in the dust for a weapon, your hands find only rock and earth. As you turn back, gripped by panic, you see the demon standing over you. It raises its mighty sword, the black metal inscribed with a thousand dark runes. Set into the crosspiece is a fist-sized gemstone, glowing with a piercing white light.
‘Ragnarok is remade!’ The demon turns the blade and then, with a roar as loud as the raging mountain, the beast plunges the sword into your heart . . .
‘No!’ You jerk backwards, flinching from the strike. The rattle of chains remind you that you cannot move your arms. You are a prisoner, bound within the four walls of a cell.
‘Ragnarok . . .’ you gasp.
In a corner of the room, a white shape is bent over a table. You hear the scratch of a pen on parchment. The noise is grating; each stroke setting your teeth on edge.
‘The sword,’ says a voice, cold and impassionate. There is a pause in the incessant scraping as the pen is lifted off the parchment. ‘Tell me again what you saw. What is this . . . gem that you speak of?’
Already the vision is fading, replaced by a sickening wave of nausea. Once more you pull against the chains, struggling to break free, but the effort only brings you pain. You sag, hanging limp, your knees scraping against the hard stone floor.
‘Answer me,’ demands the voice.
You scowl at the thin, bald-headed man, his scarred scalp peppered by an occasional grey hair. A scholar, a librarian. Forever hunched over his writing table, forever asking questions. You count seven rolls of parchment resting against the wall. Each one, you know, will be covered in hundreds of neat lines; every word dragged from you, like a vulture constantly pecking away at a corpse in the desert.
‘I’m done,’ you mutter, letting your head fall against your chest. ‘I’m done . . .’
‘You’re done when I tell you!’ snaps the man. He stands suddenly, pushing the desk away. His hand goes to his belt, quickly unfastening the straps around a leather flask. ‘More of this will make you talk.’
You flinch, knowing what is to come. The Elysium. A truth serum. It makes the visions stronger; more frequent. ‘No, please, no more . . .’
There is a click of boot heels, echoing in the passageway. Two men appear at the bars of the cell. One is tall, dressed in a long grey coat. His face is hidden beneath the brim of his hat. Next to him is an inquisitor, a holy warrior, dressed in the white and gold armour of his order. The inquisitor produces a ring of keys from his belt. There is a rattling clatter followed by a grating squeal, as the cell door is unlocked and pushed open. The inquisitor stands back, his head bowed, as the stranger in the grey coat strides into the cell.
‘What is this?’ snaps the librarian, scurrying out of the man’s way. ‘I demand to know your purpose here!’ His head jerks back and forth between the stranger and the guard, but he receives no answer.
Instead, the grey-coated figure halts, the heels of his boots snapping together in military fashion. He places a gloved hand inside a pocket and pulls out a letter. He holds it aloft, waiting for the librarian to take it.
‘This better be good.’ He snatches the document, scarred cheek pulling a crude sneer. There is silence as he unfolds the paper and begins reading.
‘You can’t!’ he gasps suddenly, looking up in shock. ‘By what right?’
The stranger removes his hat, revealing a gaunt face covered in vicious-looking welts. His left eye is missing entirely, the pulpy flesh covered by a gem-encrusted patch. He takes a step forward, placing a gloved hand beneath your chin and lifting it up. His one grey eye scrutinises you with interest.
‘On Avian Dale’s orders,’ says the stranger, his voice deep and gravelly. ‘This one is now my property.’
The librarian is struggling for words, his upper lip twitching. ‘But you—’
‘My name is Virgil Elland.’ The stranger turns his head slightly, looking back over his shoulder. ‘You know me?’
‘I . . . I do,’ gasps the librarian, his eyes widening. ‘You’re a witchfinder. One of the king’s confessors.’
Virgil grins, displaying a set of gold teeth. ‘Once upon a time.’ He leans towards you, his grip on your chin tightening.
‘You caught this one, back in Tithebury – yes?’ The librarian glares sourly at his back.
‘No, that was another – Eldias Falks. I read his report.’ Virgil leans back, following the length of your arms to the chains hanging above your head. ‘A child was murdered.’
The librarian nods quickly. ‘Edward Cooper. The miller’s son.’
The man plants his hat back onto his head. ‘Common criminals do not receive the attention of the inquisition.’
‘Common!’ The librarian snatches one of the rolled parchments, holding it out in front of the man. ‘You know why this one is here. They claim to see the future – a prophet!’
Virgil ignores the proffered parchment. Instead, he plucks something from your arm. You feel a stinging pain, followed by a warm sensation running over your skin. You try and turn your head, but you are too weak to move.
‘Ah, of course.’ The witchfinder holds up a bloated leech. Scowling, he squashes it between his gloved fingers before sniffing the gooey residue. ‘Elysium.’
‘Yes, a necessary evil in these dark times.’ The librarian’s eyes dance shiftily. ‘Any normal person would have died months ago, even with the leeches. But this one . . . Their body doesn’t fight it. It’s almost as if it accepts it.’
‘Interesting. . .’ Virgil releases you, letting your head slump forward once again. ‘Bring more leeches. I want this one clean. Two days, I’ll be back for collection.’
He turns on his heels, revealing a vast array of pistols and rifles strapped across his shoulders. ‘This one is very precious to me. Understand?’
‘But what of the Lord Justice? I can’t bel
ieve that . . .’
‘It’s taken care of.’
‘But . . .’
‘Avian Dale has made all the arrangements-’
The men’s voices become distant. You struggle to focus but the room is blurring into a fevered haze. There is an echoing clang: the cell door closing. Then you are gone, adrift in another dream.
A rolling boom of noise.
You are thrown awake by a tremor, which has set the very walls to shaking. Still groggy from sleep, you struggle to bring your surroundings into focus. A cell; small and cramped. The desk in the corner has been overturned. Ink is spattered across the dusty floor.
Another thunderous boom.
Stone and dust rain down from the ceiling. Your chains rattle back and forth, forcing you into a swaying dance. From the passageway you hear raised voices and the clash of steel. Another explosion is followed by screams. Dust and debris billow down the passage. A woman’s voice is raised above the din. You can’t make out the words.
Stone crumbles and breaks around the edge of your cell. For a second, you are convinced you are still dreaming; you can’t understand how the stone is moving, coming apart before your very eyes. Then you see tentacle-like roots, pushing up out of the ground, splitting the stone as if it was nothing but loose earth.
The cell door buckles as the stone shifts around it, filling the space with a thick cloud of dust. Unable to cover your face, you are seized by a coughing fit – the thick particles forcing their way to the back of your throat.
Eyes streaming, you watch as a dark shape moves towards you through the mist. For a moment you fear it is the demon from your dreams; the one that haunts your every waking moment. But this is a man.
The Heart of Fire Page 2