Ability: impale
Ability: gorilla rage
Ability: blink
(requirement: warrior)
(requirement: mage)
When you have made your decision, you may ask to see Yootha’s specials (turn to 593), ask about the jungle (turn to 520) or continue your journey (turn to 571).
613
There are five statues supporting the domed ceiling of the pagoda, each depicting a different animal deity. Their gaze is directed towards the stone font set into the centre of the floor. You approach it cautiously, sensing the powerful magics radiating from the runes around its edge. The top of the font is cast from a plate of bronze, with a large circular hole in its middle. You lean over, peering down into the cavity – drawing back instantly when you feel an icy cold wind brush against your face. If you have the glaive of souls equipped, turn to 706. Otherwise, unable to fathom the purpose of this strange device, you decide to leave. Turn to 668.
614
The land dips, taking you into a dark valley filled with eerie shrieks and wails. The jungle here is thick, the tree canopy obscuring the sky and plunging you into a sombre gloom. After an hour of clambering over roots and rotten mounds of earth, you hear the rushing thunder of a river to your right. If you are an acolyte, monk or pilgrim, turn to 751. Otherwise, turn to 500.
615
Congratulations, for defeating Erkil while hexed you have won the following rare item:
Blood-sworn crown
(head)
+2 speed +3 armour
Ability: iron will, blood-sworn set
(requirement: hexed)
Once you have updated your hero sheet, return to the quest map to continue your journey.
616
You sight the creature above the rooftops ahead. It is moving laboriously slowly, its hulking form a mass of writhing purple tentacles.
‘That’s . . . Mortzilla?’ you ask with a sudden pang of dread.
‘Yeah, the spirit trapped between here and next place,’ explains Boom. ‘That’s why only the staff can harm him.’
You round a corner, entering a wide plaza overgrown with weeds. Ahead of you is the spirit known as Mortzilla. The gargantuan beast lurches forward on a single pair of stalk-like legs, their fragility at odds with the enormous body of tentacles they are required to support. Its head looks like a similar afterthought – just a small funnel-shaped protrusion, balancing on a thin stem. Where it widens into a flat face, you see the fleshy surface pitted with dark holes. It isn’t until the beast nears that you see the human skulls peering out from the circles of darkness – hundreds and hundreds of them.
‘That thing is your spirit walk?’ you gasp, backing away in horror. ‘Your elders must have really hated you . . .’
Boom Mamba turns and throws you the staff. You catch it as a reflex action, your brow creasing with confusion. ‘Use the boom stick,’ he says. ‘Spirits help you to defeat it.’
Your eyes widen. ‘Me? What about you?’
Boom tugs one of his vials free, removing the stopper with his teeth. Then he points. ‘I gonna keep them busy.’
Suddenly the world is plunged into darkness. You look up to see a dense mist spreading out from the creature, obscuring the sun and the green-tinged sky. As the strange fingers of fog start to rush closer, you suddenly realise what Boom was referring to. It isn’t a fog at all – it is thousands of black, ghostly bodies streaking through the air. And they are headed straight for you.
Boom throws back his arm and flings the vial. It spins through the air and then explodes, sending concussive waves of magical energy billowing through the swarm. The spirits caught in the blast are torn to ribbons – but as they fall, hundreds more sweep in to take their place.
You raise the staff and follow Boom into the dark maelstrom, dodging the ghostly claws and talons that reach out of the blackness. Your focus is the monster itself.
As another explosion rips through the spirit cloud, a piercing sound fills your ears – like a million voices screaming as one. You lift your eyes to the monster’s face and realise that the sound is coming from the skulls – a dirge-like wail that saps at your courage.
‘Use the boom stick!’ shouts a voice over your shoulder. ‘Before it’s too late!’
You grip the staff in both hands and prepare to take on:
Special abilities
Shadow shroud: Mortzilla is immune to your special abilities. In this combat, you can only use the abilities absorbed by your rune totem (see below). You can still use backpack items as normal (such as potions).
Screaming skulls: At the end of each combat round, you must lower your speed, brawn and magic by 1. Once your attributes have reached zero, they cannot be reduced further.
In this combat, your totem abilities (you should have a total of three) do the following:
Wind guardian (sp): You may add 2 to your attack speed for the duration of the combat.
Infected wound (pa): If your damage score causes health damage to your opponent, they must lose a further 3 health at the end of every combat round, for the duration of the combat.
Shadow shift (co): You can use this ability instead of rolling for a damage score to backstab your opponent. This causes 6 dice of damage, ignoring armour. You can only use this ability once.
Earth fist (co): You can use this ability instead of rolling for a damage score to cause 2 dice of damage, ignoring armour, and reduce your opponent’s armour score to zero for the remainder of the combat. You can only use this ability once.
Boogie’s booster (mo): Use anytime in combat to instantly restore your attributes (speed, brawn and magic) back to their starting values. This ability can be used twice.
If you manage to defeat this nightmarish apparition, restore any lowered attributes then turn to 589.
617
Black Patch returns with the other Sheva, then together you plan your attack. The compound is lightly defended – but even so, the walls of the fort are high and staked, ending in four lookout towers, with a guard in each. You also notice that two of the towers have a repeating crossbow, capable of shredding anything that gets within range. You glance back at the tigris and start to wonder if the Khana pack were right to flee to the marsh.
But the Sheva have one big advantage – you.
‘Fire,’ you smile, showing them the sparks you can create with your tinderbox.
Half an hour later and you are skirting the far side of the compound, where the forest grows closest to the walls. Black Patch and White Cloak keep watch, while you attempt to set sparks to the kindling you have placed next to the wooden wall. It takes several attempts – but soon smoke starts to rise from the smouldering embers. You move on to a different section of wall, repeating the exercise. Then you head back into the forest and wait.
It takes an excruciating amount of time, but soon you hear calls of alarm as one of the walls suddenly goes up in flames. You slink back to the front of the compound, away from the fire, to see several of the Sheva scouts climbing the front wall. Their claws make short work of the height, dropping down on the other side. More cries follow – including a gargling scream. Then the rest of the Sheva emerge from the forest. One of the crossbows in the towers swings around, firing a rain of bolts in their direction. But the barrage misses its mark as the tigris surge forward, towards the slowly opening gates.
‘Wood den is open,’ grins White Cloak. ‘Now, we make skins bleed!’
The female tigris leads the way, bounding from the cover of the trees and heading for the opening gateway. You follow, drawing your weapons, with Black Patch at your side. Turn to 669.
618
You must now decide if you want to take the raft and use it to navigate the fast-flowing river (turn to 512) or whether you would prefer to keep to the river’s banks, following the edge of the forest (turn to 703).
619
Glancing down one of the side aisles, you notice an open doorway leading through into a darkened chamber. Metal
tips protrude from holes in the door lintel, suggesting a raised barrier or portcullis. You suddenly remember back to the crystal ball and the room you saw in your vision. This is the secret cache that you unlocked using the crystal.
Excited by your find, your hurry along the passage to investigate the storeroom. Turn to 671.
620
You give chase to the goblins, following them into a set of labyrinthine passages. The dark tunnels wind and twist, constantly intersecting with other shafts and corridors, until you have lost all sense of direction. Your only guide through this infuriating maze is the goblins, who lead you on a serpentine path, taking you ever deeper into the black rock.
At last you sight a red glow, filtering through a crack in the wall. You squeeze through, finding yourselves at the top of a sloping ledge. Below you, through the fingers of mist, you can see the magma lake and its tiny islands, bobbing on the surface.
‘There!’ Virgil pats your shoulder and points. The three goblins are now scurrying down the rock, the flickering light stretching their shadows into dark, sinister giants. The larger goblin is lagging behind his companions, the bag of loot slowing him down. Virgil takes aim and fires. The goblin staggers. He takes another few steps then flops forward onto his stomach, his loot bag clunking down on top of him.
When you catch up with the goblin, you see a pool of black blood oozing around his body. You lift up the sack, seeing that the bullet has gone straight through.
‘Hope I didn’t damage the goods,’ says Virgil, holstering his pistol. ‘Let’s see what the goblins found.’
You crouch down, tipping the bag’s contents onto the ground. Most of the items appear to be junk: broken shards of pottery, a few chipped gemstones, some chunks of iron and silver. However, a few pilfered treasures catch your eye. You may take any/all of the following:
Onyx blade
Rune of healing
Illumanti circlet
(backpack)
(special: rune)
(necklace)
A crescent-shaped blade
for a mighty weapon
Use on any item to add
the special ability heal
+1 speed +1 armour
Ability: confound
(requirement: mage)
When you have made your decision, turn to 820 to continue your pursuit of the remaining goblins.
621
You smash the pillar down to size, its last vestiges of dark magic trickling away into the ruins. Searching the rubble, you find one of the following rewards:
Totem mask
Rubrica’s cube
Stone walkers
(head)
(backpack)
(feet)
+1 speed +2 brawn
A baffling puzzle designed to frustrate
+1 speed +1 magic
Ability: might of stone
Ability: might of stone
If you wish to follow the escaped magic, turn to 733. If you would rather press on through the ruins, turn to 764.
622
Intricate dwarven runes are carved into the monocle’s gold frame. When you wear it, you discover that you can understand any language or script, including the most complicated of glyphs. This is a powerful artefact indeed – and one that will help you to unlock new levels of power.
You may now equip the following item:
The mind’s eye
(talisman)
+1 magic
Ability: scholar career
The scholar has the following abilities:
Tome raider (pa): Using the monocle you are able to unlock the hidden secrets of the arcane. You may automatically add 2 magic to each spell book in your possession.
Bright spark (mo): Your powers are amplified, allowing you to re-roll any dice for your damage score for the duration of the combat. You must accept the result of the re-rolled dice.
As soon as the mind’s eye talisman is unequipped or you learn a new career, you lose the abilities associated with the scholar career.
If you do not wish to keep the monocle, then Yootha at the trading post will offer you 100 gold crowns for it. When you have made your decision, return to the quest map to continue your journey.
623
Most of your surroundings are obscured by cloud, but to the north you are afforded a breath-taking view of the forest. You take out the scholar’s parchment and hastily add to the map, noting the rotten marsh to your left and the ruins stretching over the hills to your right. Make a note of the key words north view on your hero sheet.
You may now head back into the ruins to continue your journey. Turn to 667. If you have already completed the dark interior quest, you can return to the quest map instead.
624
Next, you must decide what type of paper you wish to use. One set has been made with a light-coloured wood that sparkles with spots of silver. The other set has a bitter smell, the paper infused with flecks of dark crimson. If you wish to choose the silver wood paper, turn to 863. If you would prefer to use the blood leaf paper, turn to 795.
625
‘Yer don’t want to be lugging all that gear around with you out in the jungle. Travel light as yer can. I got a locker out back – keep your swagger safe. I even give yer your own master key, so no funny business. Honest word.’ The man’s face splits into another gummy smile. ‘Just 10 shiny ones and that stash is yours. If yer got any belongings back home yer want shipped in, then I can get that arranged . . . grease a few palms, you get me meaning.’
If you wish, you may purchase a locker for 10 gold crowns. You may store any extra backpack items or items of equipment in the locker during act 2. If you swap equipment (weapons, backpack items etc.) during your adventure, you may put the item you are replacing in your locker by turning to this entry number. This will prevent it from being destroyed. You can only keep a maximum of four objects in your locker:
You can re-equip items from your locker, whenever you visit this entry number between quests. If you had a previous safe house in Carvel, you can have your items transferred to your act 2 locker by paying 30 gold crowns.
When you have made your decision, you may ask Bertie about the noticeboard (turn to 454) or continue your journey (turn to 571).
626
You enter a low-ceilinged room, filled with broken burial urns and anointed linen wraps. Someone has clearly been through this room with a mind to searching it – smashing through whatever they could get their hands on. You are reminded of your earlier vision of the demon and wonder if this was the room that you saw being ransacked.
To the left, an arch leads through into a smaller antechamber, where you can see a model of a stepped pyramid resting on a pedestal. It is surrounded by broken clay tablets. Straight ahead, a set of stairs lead down into darkness.
Will you:
Search through the debris? — 508
Inspect the pyramid? — 581
Leave and continue? — 563
627
There is a rumbling, cracking sound as a narrow section of the wall starts to slide backwards, revealing a hidden chamber. To your relief, you find that it is stacked high with treasures – from sparkling gold caskets to rune-forged weapons.
If you are a warrior or rogue, turn to 777. If you are a mage, turn to 176.
628
You hand over the quetzal egg (you can remove this item from your hero sheet). Bill studies it with an ever-widening grin. ‘Oh yes, perfect find. And still in one piece. Bet it tastes good fried up with some bread, eh?’ He slaps you on the shoulder, guffawing. ‘Nah, just joking with you, friend. This will hatch into something far more valuable – they’re prized by mages. I even heard of one teaching a quetzal to talk! Hah!’ He fishes in his pocket for some gold. ‘Here, there’s a hundred crowns for your trouble.’ (You have gained 100 gold crowns.) You may now explore the rest of the camp, turn to 744, or leave and return to the quest map.
629
Although tempted, you manage to resist the lure
of the powerful weapon. Your instincts tell you that it is an evil thing – and one that is best left alone. Turning your back on the black spear, you start away across the courtyard. On the spot where the great spirit Mortzilla was finally slain, you discover a rare treasure glinting back at you. If you wish, you may now help yourself to one of the following:
Screaming skull
Zilla bling
Wish bone
(talisman)
(ring)
(necklace)
+1 speed +4 health
+1 magic +4 health
+1 brawn +4 health
Ability: charm
Ability: charm
Ability: charm
Your decision made, you leave the Lamuri ruins and head back into the jungle. Return to the quest map to continue your adventure.
630
In the following series of encounters you must outrun the wind demon, Nyx. You have 20 combat rounds to fight your way to the top of the Abussos. Keep a track of each separate combat you fight and how many combat rounds have passed. Once you reach the end of the twentieth combat round, Nyx has caught up with you and you will have failed the challenge.
After each combat, keep a track of the health and abilities that you have remaining. You can only use/activate each ability once during the course of this challenge (even those that would normally happen automatically, such as thorns and bleed). You decide which abilities are used in each combat. Good luck! Turn to 815 to begin the challenge.
631
Quest: The rune forge
The Heart of Fire Page 49