Shadow on the Sand – Background

Shadow on the Sand – Background

http://ift.tt/2grMYLi

A new adventure!

[And by ‘new’, I mean that, yet again, I get summoned by King Ulnar to save the kingdom from itself]

Deja vu, anyone?

In any event, and presumably after being suitably feted for saving Ruanon from raiders (and the world from undead zombie warriors) I am resting comfortably in the Kai monastery.

While being in the midst of a M.U.L.E. (look it up) marathon, a messenger struggles through the mid-winter snows to (*sigh*) again bring an urgent message from the capital requesting my assistance.  In summary :

• The ruling ‘Zakhan’ of Vassagonia, a desert kingdom to the east, has sent an envoy seeking peace between the two countries.
• I am being ‘requested’ (yeah, right) to accompany the Sommerlund diplomatic envoy to Vassagonia and sign the proffered treaty of peace on behalf of our country.
• My assistance is needed because Barraka (remember him?) was actually a renegade noble of Vassagonia (remember all those mysterious ‘Vassagonian’ warriors in book 4?), and the ‘Zakhan’ wants to emphasise that he was not a party to Barraka’s ‘foul treachery’ and wants to restore good relations between our two countries.

Aside : The obvious question is how conciliatory the Zakhan would have been if my mission in Book 4 had been a failure, and an army of resurrected skeletons were now rampaging over Sommerlund?  I guess we’ll never know…but certain guesses can be made.

• King Ulnar, as we stand in the throne room together, can barely contain his distate for the ‘fawning envoy’, and beckons me to a ‘private room’.
• Before the fan-fiction writers can get too interested in what is about to occur, the  King confirms that he has little time for Vassagonia, but even less time for the prospect of war.
• FORESHADOWING ALERT – the King confirms that the Zakhan is ‘old and frail’ and that numerous nobles (of whom Barraka was one) are hovering for the chance at power if the Zakhan should fall.
• Well – that won’t come up, again, surely??
• Even if the treaty is signed, our King considers there is a high likelihood of war within the year.

On that cheery note, I make ready to travel.

Firstly, I have the chance to select another Kai Discipline.  My choice is between Mindshield and Weaponskill.  As stated before, due to the 60% of Weaponskill being unhelpful, I opt for Mindshield, in case any psychic nasties await me on my (no doubt uneventful) journey.

I further get enough Gold Crowns to take my money tally to the maximum amount of 50.

I can choose four items from an available list of Weapons and other knick-knacks to take with me.  Looking at my Backpack list, I discard my (doubtless spoiled) 2 Meals and take two ‘fresh’ ones.  I discard the Key, Tinderbox, Torch and Rope, and take another Laumspur potion, to add to the one I continue to carry.

Purely for the sake of reducing redundancy, I discard obviously ‘book-specific’ Special Items such as the prophecy regarding the Maakengorge.  There is no way that I forego the Dagger of Vashna, because you just know that something with such a cool name is going to come in handy at some point!

Perhaps most importantly, (and pleasingly to a young Fenrir), I confirm that I have now attained the Kai rank of ‘Savant’, with all that this entails (!)

Base Stats : CS : 17, E : 20, GC 50

Final Stats : CS : 29, E : 26

Weapons : Sommerswerd (+8 CS), Sword

Backpack : 2 Meals, 2 Laumspur potions (+4E),

Special Items : Map, Crystal Star, Shield (+2 CS), Sommerswerd, Padded Waistcoat (+2 E), Chainmail Waistcoat (+4 E) Blue Stone Triangle Pendant, Diamond, Ornate Silver Key, Dagger of Vashna

Kai Rank : Journeyman

Kai Disciplines : Camouflage, Animal Kinship, Tracking, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Healing, Mind Over Matter, Mindblast (+2CS), Mindshield

Paragraph : 1

 

 

Gamebook blogs

http://ift.tt/2grMYLi
via LONE WOLF PLAYTHROUGH http://ift.tt/2cxEuPL

December 9, 2016 at 03:22AM