Read The Buccaneers of Shadaki Online
Authors: Joe Dever
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Lone Wolf, #Magnamund
The Buccaneers of Shadaki (28 page)
As you race through the knee-high foliage you sense danger ahead. Your mastery of Pathsmanship is warning you that the undergrowth conceals a pit trap. As you draw closer, you are able to detect the outline of a trench that is over fifteen feet wide.
If you wish to attempt to leap across this concealed pit,
turn to 129
.
If you decide to halt and turn to face your pursuers,
go to 27
.
Your Magnakai skills detect that these plants have no healing properties, and their perfume is a little too sickly for your liking. Rather than delay your journey unnecessarily, you decide to ignore them and continue your ride along the trail to Kitaezi.
Using your Magnakai Discipline of Nexus, and the edge of the brass clasp which pins your Kai cloak, you set about the difficult task of slowly working open the bolt which secures the cell door.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
. If you possess the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery, add 2 to the number you have picked.
If your total score is now 3 or lower,
turn to 207
.
If it is 4 or higher,
turn to 175
.
You reach the ferry station as the vessel is leaving and you are forced to leap from the jetty and cling to its tailgate. The ferryman on the deck of the vessel grabs your hands and helps you to climb aboard. He then asks you to pay the fare of 2 Nobles and your heart sinks when you remember that all your money was stolen during the night. The ferryman becomes impatient; he threatens to have you thrown overboard if you do not stump up the fare. After some arguing he finally agrees to accept one Backpack Item in lieu of cash. (Delete from your
Action Chart
one Backpack Item of your own choosing.)
You settle yourself at the bow rail and look around at your fellow travellers. Most appear to be merchants with wagons and handcarts that are loaded with goods destined for the markets of Tiklu. It is a short voyage of 20 miles across the strait. As the ferry approaches the landing jetty, your fellow passengers get ready to leave. During the disembarkation, one merchant's small cart is overturned and his cargo is spilled onto the shore. The other merchants push past him, but you feel sorry for his plight and you help to calm his carthorse and retrieve his goods. He is very grateful for your assistance and he offers you a ride to Tiklu aboard his cart which you willingly accept.
Using your camouflage skills and the natural cover afforded by the jungle ferns, you stalk ever closer to the source of the strange sound. You sense that the source is evil, yet still you feel compelled to discover what it is that lurks at the heart of this eerie forest.
If you possess Grand Pathsmanship,
turn to 273
.
If you do not possess this Grand Master Discipline,
turn to 189
.
You see the deck of the trading ship come rushing towards you and, in the very next instant, you feel an agonizing pain tear through your left leg. You have been struck in the thigh by an arrow: lose 5
ENDURANCE
points.
If you have survived this wounding, make the necessary adjustment to your
Action Chart
and continue by
turning to 280
.
You explain the problem to Melchar and he solves it by swiping a pair of lady's pink pantaloons from a washing line that is strung across the alley. Their furious owner sees him stealing her gaudy garment from her bedroom window, and she hurls a chamber pot at him in a desperate attempt to stop him getting away. Unfortunately, the pot hits you on the back of the head (lose 1
ENDURANCE
point). As you escape along the winding alleyway, you rub the bruise that is rising on your head and curse your luck. But you are grateful of one thing: at least the chamber pot was empty!
You follow Melchar through the alleyways of the east quarter which take you all the way back to The Song of the Silver Star tavern. The young journeyman laughs with sheer relief at having escaped from Wrok's henchmen when finally you enter the sanctuary of the inn's crowded taproom. The innkeeper asks Melchar if he bought his pantaloons with the proceeds of his winnings at the racetrack. He replies that, thanks to your advice, he did not bet. The only thing he lost was his breeches and he proceeds to tell the innkeeper how that came about. The man frowns.
‘Wrok's not a man to cross, y'know,’ he warns. ‘He's ruthless when it comes to getting even. I think you two had better stay in the attic tonight. Wrok's sure to send his lackeys out a-huntin' for you.’
You heed the innkeeper's warning and spend the night hidden in his attic room. Before dawn breaks you slip out of the tavern by a back door and say farewell to Melchar in the street outside.
‘Captain Leonghi's ship is moored down at the docks,’ he says. ‘It's called
Embassage
. I wish you a swift and safe journey to Nhang, Grand Master. I'll always remember our little adventure at the Caeno Derby and I hope we'll meet again one day when you return home to Sommerlund.’
You follow Grooja out of his hut and along a vermin-infested path which wends a tortuous route through a maze of slum dwellings and festering rubbish dumps. After a mile or so, this rough track ascends into a wooded hillside and then ends upon a plateau which overlooks the harbour. From here you can see Jenkshi and his crew working on
The Azan
by the light of a hundred oily torches. With undisguised pride, Grooja points to the Shrine of the Oracle and invites you to avail yourself of its wisdom. The shrine consists of a man-sized statue constructed from rusting metal and chunks of driftwood held together with nails, strips of animal skin, and twisted steel wire. You decide to humour Grooja and so you ask the statue to tell you if there is anyone you should trust or distrust during your long journey to Suhn. As expected, you get no response. But then a wind arises and it makes a faint whistling sound as it passes through the holes in the statue. For a fleeting moment you think you hear the words: ‘
Bad … dragon … is good,
’ but then the wind dies and there is nothing but silence. Grooja smiles. He seems to think that the oracle has spoken a great truth.
Illustration XVIII—For a fleeting moment you think you hear the words: ‘
Bad … dragon … is good.
’
‘Come, we go now. The Oracle speaks but once a day. It has given you good wisdom. You are blessed.’
You reach Caeno in the early evening. For all its great size and former splendour, this city has the appearance of a half-deserted ruin. The famous grand mansions of its northern quarter are now little more than dilapidated shells, and its paved avenues are broken and overgrown with weeds. Yet despite its state of neglect and decay, Caeno is a crowded city, especially at this time of the year.
You discover why as you make your way through its twisting, soot-blackened streets. On every other wall there hangs a gaudy yellow poster announcing the Caeno Derby, an annual race that attracts visitors from all over Magnamund. The race is to be run tomorrow and the inns and boarding houses are overflowing with customers. After a long search, you finally discover a shabby inn called The Song of the Silver Star that has a vacant room. The fat innkeeper informs you with glee that bed and board will cost you 6 Nobles, an exorbitant sum for such a run-down establishment.
‘It's the derby,’ he says, without a hint of an apology. ‘Beds is at a premium with so many visitors around.’
If you wish to pay the innkeeper 6 Nobles,
turn to 259
.
If you do not,
turn to 325
.
Quickly you unsheathe your Kai Weapon and hurl it at the sniper. It spins through the air and thuds into his chest, sending him tumbling backwards from his perch to land heavily upon the exposed roots of the tree. You hurry to his body and retrieve your Weapon. To your disappointment, however, you discover that his blowpipe and horn are now useless, both of them having been smashed by his fall.
Quickly you hide his body in the undergrowth and then you move deeper into the jungle, guided and drawn by the strange incessant noise.
Using your Kai camouflage skills, you step away from the door and press yourself into a shadowy recess in the corridor wall. Then using your powers of Grand Nexus, you cause a torch at the far end of the corridor to topple out of its wall bracket. The guards react immediately; they grab their weapons and rush out of the guardroom to investigate the noise. As soon as they pass by, you slip inside the room and retrieve your confiscated equipment (you may now erase the asterisks from your
Action Chart
).
As you are sheathing your Kai Weapon into your belt, you hear the guards come walking back along the corridor. Looking around you see that there is one other exit from this room — a heavy oak door which is banded with strips of black iron.
The globes dance around your boat and their chilling laughter echoes through the mist. Suddenly the Moonstone and the satchel disappear and an icy coldness invades your heart when you sense that you have now fallen into the thrall of these supernatural beings. Tragically, you are doomed to spend the rest of eternity a prisoner of this timeless void.
Your life and your quest end here in the Sea of Mists.
While you are observing the longboat, you repair the broken satchel strap and check the condition of your Backpack and Weapons. Whilst doing this you discover that you lost one Backpack Item during your underwater battle.
Erase from your
Action Chart
the third item which you have recorded on your
list of Backpack Items
.
To continue,
turn to 171
.
The man shrieks with rage and curses you in a vile language that you do not recognize. Yet the sound of his words sends a shiver of dread coursing down your spine, like a trickle of icy-cold water. He denounces you as an agent of the City Council sent to spy on their meeting, and he orders the group to attack and slay you. The men react slowly to his frantic commands. It is as if they are struggling to awaken from a deep sleep. You have no wish to fight these men and so you turn and run towards the park entrance to escape from them. As you reach the open gate, you glance over your shoulder to see that the bald man is preparing to hurl a dagger at your back.
Pick a number from the
Random Number Table
. If you possess the Disciplines of Grand Huntmastery
and
Grand Nexus, add 3 to the number you have picked.
If your total score is now 4 or less,
turn to 241
.
If it is 5 or higher,
turn to 135
.
The villagers fire their bows and every arrow strikes the dragon, yet none of them penetrate the creature's scaly hide. You hold your fire until you have a clear shot at the creature's eye, which appears to be the only part of its body that is vulnerable to a missile. Your shaft comes close to its mark: it glances off the dragon's eyelid. The creature seems not to even notice your hit. It circles the village once more and then hovers above the burnt-out remains of the central hut. You watch the creature and your Kai Sixth Sense tells you that it has not come here bent on destruction. It is seeking something in the charred ruins.
Illustration XIX—Every arrow strikes the dragon, yet none of them penetrate the creature's scaly hide.
