<p>You continue along the avenue until you reach the city<ch.apos/>s north wall. Here you stop to read a proclamation that has been nailed to the door of a coaching inn and stables. It states that a curfew is in force in Rhem, and anyone found on the streets an hour after nightfall will be arrested by the city watch.</p>
<p>You are about to leave when you overhear the owner of the stables talking to one of his stable-hands. The boy is holding the reins of an aged horse that is severely lame in one leg, and the owner is telling him that he can no longer afford to stable the sick old mare.</p>
<p><quote>She<ch.apos/>ll have to go,</quote> says the owner, shaking his head, <quote>she<ch.apos/>s worthless to me now she<ch.apos/>s not earning her keep.</quote></p>
- <p>Tears are streaming down the young boys face. Clearly he loves the old horse and is heartbroken at the prospect of her being destroyed. Boldly you approach the owner and propose a deal.</p>
+ <p>Tears are streaming down the young boy<ch.apos/>s face. Clearly he loves the old horse and is heartbroken at the prospect of her being destroyed. Boldly you approach the owner and propose a deal.</p>
<p><quote>Sir, if I am able to cure this lame mare,</quote> you say, stroking the horse<ch.apos/>s velvety nose, <quote>then will you allow me to keep her?</quote></p>
<p><quote>Ha, ha, ha, so you think you can work miracles, do you?</quote> chuckles the owner. <quote>Very well then, stranger. If you can cure her<ch.emdash/>you can keep her.</quote></p>
<meta><title>39</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>You erect a psychic shield to protect our mind from Roark<ch.apos/>s assault, and you successfully deflect his attack. But as his ghastly apparition gallops past, it stirs in its wake a whirling maelstrom that is filled with rocks, broken glass and other city debris. This whirlwind assails you physically and knocks you to the ground.</p>
+ <p>You erect a psychic shield to protect your mind from Roark<ch.apos/>s assault, and you successfully deflect his attack. But as his ghastly apparition gallops past, it stirs in its wake a whirling maelstrom that is filled with rocks, broken glass, and other city debris. This whirlwind assails you physically and knocks you to the ground.</p>
<combat><enemy>Ghost of Roark</enemy><enemy-attribute class="combatskill">48</enemy-attribute><enemy-attribute class="endurance">30</enemy-attribute></combat>
<p>You conduct this combat in the normal way. While attacking the ghost of Roark using your psychic Kai abilities, you must defend yourself from the injurious effects of the debris-storm. Only by defeating Roark<ch.apos/>s ghost an combat will you cause the maelstrom to cease.</p>
<choice idref="sect146">If you win the combat, <link-text>turn to 146</link-text>.</choice>
<meta><title>42</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>This village is a run down shabby-looking place which appears to have seen better days. The timbers of its gaudily-painted houses are riddled with rot, and its citizens have a mean and surly demeanour at you find irksome. You are having second thoughts about stopping at the inn and are only persuaded when you hear the distant rumble of thunder.</p>
+ <p>This village is a run down shabby-looking place which appears to have seen better days. The timbers of its gaudily-painted houses are riddled with rot, and its citizens have a mean and surly demeanour that you find irksome. You are having second thoughts about stopping at the inn and are only persuaded when you hear the distant rumble of thunder.</p>
<p>To your surprise, you discover the owner of the Pickled Scow to be an unusually kind and cheerful character. For 3 Gold Crowns (erase these from your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a>), he and his daughter furnish you with a fine meal and a warm room above their kitchen. Before you retire for the night, they invite you to sample their ale<ch.emdash/>free of charge. It is a weak but flavoursome brew, and while you sip it in front of the blazing hearth, they tell you stories about the colourful travellers who have spent the night at their inn.</p>
<choice idref="sect231">If you wish to ask them if they have heard any news about your homeland, <link-text>turn to 231</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect56">If you do not, <link-text>turn to 56</link-text>.</choice>
<meta><title>56</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>You sleep well and rise with the cock<ch.apos/>s crow. When you reach the stable, you discover the innkeeper has already prepared your horse ready for your departure. You thank him and wave farewell to be cheerful man and his daughter as you set off on the road north to Varetta.</p>
+ <p>You sleep well and rise with the cock<ch.apos/>s crow. When you reach the stable, you discover the innkeeper has already prepared your horse ready for your departure. You thank him and wave farewell to the cheerful man and his daughter as you set off on the road north to Varetta.</p>
<p>It is midday when you catch your first glimpse of this ancient city. Positioned on a large plateau in the centre of a grassy plain, the blood-red walls and towering spires of Varetta look doubly impressive. As you approach the south gate, you admire the carvings which embellish the city<ch.apos/>s walls. They depict great dragons with snake-like bodies that intertwine as they flow around the towers and bastions of this ancient city.</p>
<p>The guards at the gate allow you to enter without challenge, and you pass through the grand southern entrance which leads to a flagstoned square.</p>
<choice idref="sect284">If you have ever visited Varetta before, in a previous <cite>Lone Wolf</cite> adventure, <link-text>turn to 284</link-text>.</choice>
<data>
<p>Once outside the broken gate of Amory, you turn to the north and follow the road which leads to Varetta, the principal city of Lyris. At noon you come to a fork in the road where a signpost indicates two different destinations: Soren (left) and Varetta (right). You take the right-hand road and spend the afternoon riding across a lonely stretch of gently undulating plain. During this ride, unless you possess Grand Huntmastery, you must eat a Meal or lose 3 <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points.</p>
- <p>Daylight is beginning to wane when you arrive at a village that is dominated by a fortified manor house. Rain clouds are fast closing in from the west and your thoughts turn, once more, to finding shelter or the night.</p>
+ <p>Daylight is beginning to wane when you arrive at a village that is dominated by a fortified manor house. Rain clouds are fast closing in from the west and your thoughts turn, once more, to finding shelter for the night.</p>
<choice idref="sect318">If you wish to seek shelter at the manor house, <link-text>turn to 318</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect42">If you choose to seek shelter in the village, <link-text>turn to 42</link-text>.</choice>
</data>
<data>
<p>The first spatterings of rain are dampening your shoulders as you approach the forest town<ch.apos/>s solitary inn. The smell and soft noises of horses waft from an adjoining stable, and the flickering orange light of an open fire can be seen shimmering through the bulls-eye glass of the inn<ch.apos/>s leaded windows. You halt outside the main door and stoop to read a weather-faded board that is fixed to the wall:</p>
- <p>The Towering Pine Inn Room <ch.ampersand/> Stabling<ch.emdash/>2 Cold Crowns per night</p>
+ <signpost>The Towering Pine Inn</signpost>
+ <signpost>Room <ch.ampersand/> Stabling<ch.emdash/>2 Cold Crowns per night</signpost>
<choice idref="sect103">If you possess sufficient Gold Crowns to stay here for the night, <link-text>turn to 103</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect302">If you do not, <link-text>turn to 302</link-text>.</choice>
</data>
<p>You ask a street trader the way to the Halls of Learning and he points impatiently to an avenue on the west side of the square. A rusty plate fixed to the corner building says: Quill Street.</p>
<p>You ride along this narrow avenue, which is flanked by aromatic jala houses and perfumeries, until it turns abruptly right into a wider thoroughfare called Brass Street. A smile cracks your travel-grimy face when you see the courtyard entrance to a grand building. It has changed much since you were last here, but despite its new brick and marble fa<ch.ccedil/>ade you recognize Varetta<ch.apos/>s Halls of Learning.</p>
<p>You ride along a gravelled path to a fountain where you stop to ask a brown-robed scholar if he knows where Gwynian can be found. Without speaking, he points to a nearby hall. A sign hanging over its richly-carved oak door says: LIBRARY. You thank the robed man and dismount from your horse, leaving him tied to a ring which is set into the wall. Then you push open the door and enter the library<ch.apos/>s cool interior.</p>
- <p>Countless thousands of books and parchments crowd the stone shelves of this magnificent library. Your eyes travel along them until they reach another door at the far end of the hall. There, standing Framed in the arch, is the man whose help you seek.</p>
+ <p>Countless thousands of books and parchments crowd the stone shelves of this magnificent library. Your eyes travel along them until they reach another door at the far end of the hall. There, standing framed in the arch, is the man whose help you seek.</p>
<p><quote>Welcome, Grand Master,</quote> says Gwynian the Sage. <quote>I have been expecting you.</quote></p>
<choice idref="sect268"><link-text>Turn to 268</link-text>.</choice>
</data>
<data>
<p>You draw on your Magnakai skill of Psi-screen to protect your mind from Roark<ch.apos/>s assault, but before it can deflect his attack, you suffer the numbing effects of psychic shock: lose 5 <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points.</p>
- <p>As you recover your senses, you see his ghastly apparition galloping past. It stirs in its wake a whirling maelstrom that is filled with rocks, broken glass and other city debris. This whirlwind assails you physically and knocks you to the ground.</p>
+ <p>As you recover your senses, you see his ghastly apparition galloping past. It stirs in its wake a whirling maelstrom that is filled with rocks, broken glass, and other city debris. This whirlwind assails you physically and knocks you to the ground.</p>
<combat><enemy>Ghost of Roark</enemy><enemy-attribute class="combatskill">48</enemy-attribute><enemy-attribute class="endurance">30</enemy-attribute></combat>
<p>You conduct this combat in the normal way. While attacking the ghost of Roark using your psychic Kai abilities, you must defend yourself from the injurious effects of the debris-storm. Only by defeating Roark<ch.apos/>s ghost in combat will you cause the maelstrom to cease.</p>
<choice idref="sect146">If you win the combat, <link-text>turn to 146</link-text>.</choice>
<p>Gwynian ushers you through into an adjoining chamber where floating bulbs of light illuminate a stone table covered with charts and scrolls.</p>
<p><quote>What news have you of Sommerlund?</quote> you ask anxiously.</p>
<p><quote>Grave news,</quote> replies Gwynian, with an ominous tone. He picks up a chart from the table and traces a finger across the intricate lines and calculations that embellish its ancient yellowed surface.</p>
- <p><quote>The Dark God Naar has opened a Shadow Gate in the Durncrag Mountains, a corridor between our world and his. By means of this corridor he has sent a host of winged creatures<ch.emdash/>the Lavas<ch.emdash/>to assail your monastery. It is his plan to destroy the young order of Kai warriors while you are not able to lead them. The Shadow Gate opened at the time of the last full moon and, since then, the Kai Monastery has been attacked many times. Naar<ch.apos/>s servants have your stronghold encircled and cut oft from the armies of King Ulnar, who has repeatedly sought to break the siege. Your Kai have withstood the attacks well, Lone Wolf, but they are weakening. Only you can save them now.</quote></p>
+ <p><quote>The Dark God Naar has opened a Shadow Gate in the Durncrag Mountains, a corridor between our world and his. By means of this corridor he has sent a host of winged creatures<ch.emdash/>the Lavas<ch.emdash/>to assail your monastery. It is his plan to destroy the young order of Kai warriors while you are not able to lead them. The Shadow Gate opened at the time of the last full moon and, since then, the Kai Monastery has been attacked many times. Naar<ch.apos/>s servants have your stronghold encircled and cut off from the armies of King Ulnar, who has repeatedly sought to break the siege. Your Kai have withstood the attacks well, Lone Wolf, but they are weakening. Only you can save them now.</quote></p>
<p><quote>But how?</quote> you ask, shaken by Gwynian<ch.apos/>s account of the events which have occurred during your absence from the monastery. <quote>If the armies of King Ulnar are powerless to break the siege, how can I hope to save my brethren?</quote></p>
<p><quote>Do not despair, Lone Wolf,</quote> replies Gwynian, reassuringly. <quote>All is not yet lost. You can save your brave order by closing the gate through which Naar sends his Lavas minions.</quote></p>
<p>You are about to ask how you could possibly achieve this, how you could close the Shadow Gate, but your urgent question is forestalled when Gwynian raises his hand.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect33">33</a>) Replaced <quote>less turn</quote> with <quote>less, turn</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect36">36</a>) Replaced <quote>had been</quote> with <quote>has been</quote>.Replaced <quote>owner, <ch.lsquot/>Very</quote> with <quote>owner. <ch.lsquot/>Very</quote>. Replaced <quote>curing and animal control</quote> with <quote>Curing and Animal Control</quote>. Replaced <quote>new-born</quote> with <quote>newborn</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect37">37</a>) Replaced <quote>Old Kingdom spell</quote> with <quote>Old Kingdom Spell</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect39">39</a>) Replaced <quote>glass and</quote> with <quote>glass, and</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect40">40</a>) Replaced both occurrences of <quote>Sun-Crystal</quote> with <quote>Sun-crystal</quote>. Replaced <quote>north-west</quote> with <quote>northwest</quote>. Replaced <quote>Durncrag mountains</quote> with <quote>Durncrag Mountains</quote>. Replaced <quote>semi-circular</quote> with <quote>semicircular</quote>. Replaced <quote>Telegnosis turn</quote> with <quote>Telegnosis, turn</quote>. Replaced <quote>cavemouth</quote> with <quote>cave mouth</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect43">43</a>) Replaced <quote>to barren plateau</quote> with <quote>to a barren plateau</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect44">44</a>) Replaced <quote>Tyso, <ch.lsquot/>He</quote> with <quote>Tyso. <ch.lsquot/>He</quote>. Replaced <quote>heavy, <ch.lsquot/>The</quote> with <quote>heavy. <ch.lsquot/>The</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect249">249</a>) Replaced <quote>accent, <ch.lsquot/>I</quote> with <quote>accent. <ch.lsquot/>I</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect250">250</a>) Replaced <quote>Kai mastery</quote> with <quote>Kai Mastery</quote>. Replaced <quote>Kai rank of</quote> with <quote>rank of Kai</quote>. Replaced <quote>new order</quote> with <quote>New Order</quote>. Replaced <quote>Kai monastery</quote> with <quote>Kai Monastery</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect252">252</a>) Replaced <quote>Kai mastery</quote> with <quote>Kai Mastery</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect253">253</a>) Replaced <quote>glass and</quote> with <quote>glass, and</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect255">255</a>) Deleted <quote>at the beginning of this book</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect256">256</a>) Replaced all occurrences of <quote>the Monastery</quote> with <quote>the monastery</quote>. Replaced <quote>Durncrag tower</quote> with <quote>Durncrag Tower</quote>. Replaced <quote>Kai savant</quote> with <quote>Kai Savant</quote>. Replaced <quote>Kai lords</quote> with <quote>Kai Lords</quote>. Replaced <quote>north-west</quote> with <quote>northwest</quote>. Replaced <quote>Durncrag mountains</quote> with <quote>Durncrag Mountains</quote>. Replaced <quote>Hall, <ch.lsquot/>the</quote> with <quote>Hall. <ch.lsquot/>The</quote>. Replaced <quote>door, <ch.lsquot/>the</quote> with <quote>door. <ch.lsquot/>The</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect258">258</a>) Replaced <quote>Sun-Crystal</quote> with <quote>Sun-crystal</quote>.</p>
Project Aon Git Repositories / project-aon.git / commitdiff