Shadows Over Fire FINAL

##Story So Far... Formed sometime after the creation of the all-powerful Moonstone against which all modern time is measured, the Order of the Waking Flame was formed in the magiocracy of Dessi to protect the kingdom against threats from other dimensions and serve the greater good. The women who make up its ranks – for only women are eligible for membership – consider themselves to be outside of the authority of the Elder Magi who rule the land, after a feud with them many centuries past. Despite this, they are still an order that fights for the general good and dedicate themselves to investigating rumors and hints of trouble that the Elder Magi are spread too thin to give their attention to. While the women of the Order may be scouted and trained from a very young age it is when they turn nineteen that their true service begins. At this time they are given the first of two brands that make up the Waking Flame’s symbol: the (text-colour:yellow)[Half-Lidded Eye] or the(text-colour:yellow)[ Enveloping Flame]. Even then, they are only considered Kindling – initiates – until they are given the second brand, and that does not happen until Nessa, current head of the Order, determines they have demonstrated the appropriate balance of strength and wisdom. The year is now MS 5000, five-thousand years after the creation of the Moonstone, and the Order is not what it once was, neither as numerous nor as powerful. Yet still you are proud to be among its members, eager and willing to do whatever is necessary to defend your homeland from the forces that would do it harm. Thus, when Nessa summons you to her stone study in the Order’s underground lair, you are quick to respond. The room is comfortably cool, saved from the final days of an elongated summer, where the sun has blazed with anger like a toddler refusing to sleep. Nessa wears a black tunic with white trim. Her hair is short cropped with streaks of gray dusting its otherwise dark edges. She is past sixty but she exudes a vibrancy that belongs to a much younger woman. Sitting in a straight-backed wooden chair at a wide table, Nessa silently reads over a series of letters, reports from various members of the Order. You stand, arms crossed behind your back, patiently waiting for her to finish. Always the reports are numerous, as the Order considers even the slightest gossip or hint of superstition to possibly contain truth. It is Nessa’s job, as leader of the Flame, to determine which are worth investigating and who to send on these missions. “A family of merchants disappeared on the road from Dalobu to Herdos three days ago,” Nessa says at last, looking up from the letters and turning her striking eyes – one mint green and the other yellow like the sun – to you expectantly. You shrug. “Merchants make enticing targets.” “The authorities have called it bandits. What do you think?” “I think there’s more or else you wouldn’t have summoned me.” Nessa smiles briefly. “You’re right. In this case only the people disappeared. Their horses and cargo were left entirely untouched. No signs of a struggle. Which is why I need you to investigate the area. Find out what really happened and report back to me.” “There is something about this matter that disturbs me,” she continues, “but more disturbing is that I cannot say why. There are whispers that drift to me on the night’s breeze, threats half glimpsed in the flicker of a candle. They speak of evils that have long been asleep but which now begin to stir, like smoke before fire. They speak of the Huntress.” Your heart beats a little faster at these words. The Huntress is Nessa's bogeywoman, a mercenary she has told you is working to try and bring back an old enemy of the Order. Nearly two hundred years ago, two high priests of the Cenerese – a sect of inventive druids who combine herbcraft and necromancy – went to war with the Order and nearly destroyed it. The Order won this war, but only at great cost, and the two priests escaped, leaving Magnamund for another plane, where it is said they wait for a chance at revenge. The Huntress, Nessa believes, has a connection with these two. “You think she is involved with this?” you ask, whispering as though the Huntress may be listening in. “My latest reports say she is in the north at the moment, in Sommerlund,” Nessa responds. “But there is a shadow over our flame, and the more I study it the more it becomes the shape of the Huntress.” You bow. “Then I leave at once,” you say. “Before the shadow can put out the light.” [[Turn to the first section.->1]]

<div id="portraitL"><img class="responsive-image" src="Images/Rand.png">[(link-repeat: "Pick a Random Number:")[(set: $result to (random: 0,9)) (print: $result)]]</div> { <img class="illustration" src="Images/003.png"> } If it is multiple choice... ... don't use p codes before the choice. ... use an actual break If it isn't, then code like this to make it look tighter

##HOW TO READ THIS ADVENTURE? Unlike other stories, //Shadows Over Fire// is not read from page 1 to the finale. Instead, at the end of every section you will be told to turn to another section usually based on a choice you are given to make. This is because, unlike other stories, //Shadows Over Fire// is an entirely choice-based experience. Your decisions affect the narrative as well as whether you live or perish. //Notes for accessibility// * If you are reading on a computer and need the font size larger, use CTRL+ to increase the size and CTRL- to decrease. * This adventure includes some color coded text to help highlight it. The specific color choices have no bearing on progressing through the story and can be ignored if you have a condition where you cannot differentiate the colors. ###What you need to keep track of This adventure has been designed using simple rules meant to be easy to enjoy regardless of your experience with gamebooks. All you need to read this adventure is a small piece of paper – which will be referred to as your //Action Card// – and a pencil. The story will instruct you when to add something to the //Action Card.// You also need a way to select numbers when asked to select a //Random Number.// You can roll a 10-sided die (where 10 = 0) or you can click on the symbol of the die which you will find to the side of this text on pages where a roll may be required. Give it a try now! ###Combat During a combat section, you will be told your opponent’s ENDURANCE value and be presented with a table of results. Pick a //Random Number// and consult this table to find out how much ENDURANCE you and your opponent each lose. Below is an example. <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-2</td> <td>3</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-5</td> <td>2</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6-8</td> <td>1</td> <td>6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9-0</td> <td>0</td> <td>12</td> </tr> </table> Continue to choose numbers and subtract ENDURANCE accordingly until one of you is dead (text-colour:blue)[(0 or less ENDURANCE]). On pages where you can perish, a skull icon will appear in the right sidebar. You should click on it if you have died (the one on this page does nothing). When you are prepared to begin, start by clicking on [[The Story So Far]]. { $RandNum <div id="portraitR">[<img src="Images/Death.png">]</div> (track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'loop', true, 'volume', .6) (tracK: 'Fantasy Loop', 'play') }

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/WF.png"> } ##1 Sunlight has not yet graced the world when you set out from the hill-town of Dalobu, heading north up the long and lonely road, roughly carved out to make a byway cutting through the Kantara Jungle towards Herdos. A year ago, war erupted between the Magiocracy of Dessi and the desert empire of Vassagonia. Much of the fighting has been kept to naval battles along the Tentarias to the south, where Vassagonia hopes to take control of the Dessian ports. Still, the war has closed the borders and hampered trade and much of the traffic that would normally clog the wide road between Dalobu and Herdos has dwindled to a trickle. This leaves you alone with your thoughts, which are filled with Nessa’s last warning: //there is a shadow over the fire.// It makes you think of how much has changed in the years since you first joined the Order. You recall the pride you felt when your days as a Kindling were over and you were given your second brand. You look now at your left forearm, where the two branded marks have come together to make a half-lidded eye enveloped in flame. Every member of the Waking Flame starts with one of the symbols and receives the other later, according to how Nessa judges their character. The Flame represents strength and power while the Eye represents wisdom and intuition. You were first marked with… … the Flame. [[Turn to 17.->17]] … the Eye. [[Turn to 48.->48]]

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/003.png"> } ##17 The sight of the Flame always awakens deep memories in you. You never knew your true mother and spent your early years working for your meals as part of a cargo ship. The shipmaster was not a cruel man but he was a businessman and he never let you forget that you were property, even going so far as to name you “Tetha,” which means mule in Vakeros, the primary Dessian tongue. You were twelve when he sold you to Nessa, to recoup the losses of a particularly poor trading trip. Nessa may have bought you but she made it clear she never owned you. The first thing she did was offer you a choice. “I will give you coin to go wherever you wish and be whatever you want,” she said. “Or you may embrace the strength I see inside of you and join me.” You gently trace the line of the flames on your arm. Since those early years you have gained the Eye, as well, though always you have felt more connected to the strength of the flame. You kept the name given you by the shipmaster, wearing it like a badge of pride to show your resilience, how you will keep burning against even the greatest of storms. At the top of your //Action Card// write your name: (text-colour:yellow)[Tetha]. You are resilient and quick, like fire itself. Write down the word ENDURANCE and next to it the (text-colour:blue)[number 23]. This represents your overall health and you may be asked to reduce it during the adventure. You may never go above the initial score. If ever it reaches 0, your life has ended and the adventure is over. Also on the card mark the following: * Two Short Swords * Backpack * Flint and Tinder * Waterskin * Blanket * … and either a (text-colour:green)[Rope, Torch, or Meal] (choose one). Finally, write that you have the ability “Feat of Strength: Once this adventure you can execute an incredible act requiring strength.” You will be told when you can use this. Be careful: using it too soon may result in you wishing you had it later! Turn to [[30.->30]]

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/004.png"> } ##48 Always when you see the lazily opening eye upon your arm do the memories rush upon you. You had always been an intelligent child, fascinated by maps and histories and encouraged in your studies by your mother, the favored concubine of a wealthy lord. You were fourteen when she fell ill with the jungle fever. Not wishing the same life for you that she had led, with her dying breath she sent you to find Nessa of Dalobu, bidding you bring Nessa a ruby ring which you’d never before seen off your mother’s finger. You fled for Dalobu that very night, surviving three days on the road with what you could forage from the jungle. You recall meeting Nessa for the first time, her gentle manner with you, and – once you showed her the ring – her offer: “Your mother and I were old friends,” she explained. “And there was a time when our feet may have tread the same path, had she chosen to join me. Now that choice is upon you. If you wish, I will send you to the Elder Magi. You will study under them and learn the ways of mathematics, magic, and science. Or you can stay with me and learn the secret histories of our world… my secrets.” In the years since, you have earned both brands, and while you have never regretted your decision to join the Order, some days you wonder if it ever really was a choice at all. Your name, after all, means “Seeker of Secrets.” At the top of the //Action Card// write your name: (text-colour:green)[Kelidrassi.] You are clever and insightful, with little that escapes your quick eye. You are skilled enough in knife combat but your true aptitude is for archery. Write down the word ENDURANCE and next to it the (text-colour:blue)[number 18.] This represents your overall health and you may be asked to reduce it during the adventure. You may never go above the initial score. If ever it reaches 0, your life has ended and the adventure is over. Also mark on the card the following items: * A Shortbow and Quiver with four Arrows * A Dagger * Backpack * Flint and Tinder * Waterskin * Blanket * … and either a (text-colour:green)[Rope, Torch, or Meal] (choose one). Finally, write that you have the ability “Foresight: once during this adventure you may skip any //Random Number// selection (except to determine Combat Results) and act as if you picked a 7.” Turn to [[30.->30]]

##30 It takes you three hours of walking under the hot sun before you come to the area where the caravan was found, marked by a freshly staked signpost the Vakeros authorities put up, a warning burned into it black and stark against the green-wood: (text-style: "emboss")[(text-color:green)[BANDITS IN AREA.]] There is little else to see. The authorities have already removed the wagon and horses, taking ownership for a fortnight while they wait for someone to claim them, selling them at auction if no one does. If it weren’t for the newly posted sign you wouldn’t even be able to tell anything had happened here. To the east of the road you spot a hunter’s path, a clearing of brush made by the cuts of a machete, to allow hunters to easily traverse the area and set their traps. The wilderness around Dalobu – the Kantara Jungle – is home to a small number of people like this, who live on what nature and their skills at trapping can provide. Perhaps one of them knows more about what happened here. Perhaps not. If you wish to search the road for more clues, [[turn to 43.->43]] If you wish instead to walk the path and see if you can find a hunter, [[turn to 16.->16]]

01/26/24 Add proper Huntress link to Journey's End **OLD** Have more places you can use strength (in combat). Have more bonuses from Foresight or places you can use it. Check any places without choices... see if you can insert some Is there a way to expand the valley by three more sections (one obstacle with a double choice; or a place to explore on the Grimshaw path? In this case, maybe 10 leads to the using of the map, this is really strong! Check sections that go to 12 and 41, make sure it is correct 12/01/2023 - last list Increase volume of Battle and Tomb Check item labels are accurate (only item name in green) Check ability labels are accurate (only ability name in yellow) Check END labels are accurate (ENDURANCE and ## in blue) Check "turn to" is accurate (As soon as choices or turn to shows up, it is given it's own paragraph break in all instances) Action Card is italicized Random Number is italicized White space is collapsed Final Edit Fix sections too close together in count

##43 You walk up and down the road, head bent in your search for any clue. After a few passes, you move your search to the jungle encroaching on the highway. You push apart thick fronds and dig through the underbrush until your back aches from bending and your fingernails are caked with dirt. Most would label such a search as pointless but you have learned during your years as an agent of the Flame that many secrets are hidden in plain sight and many mysteries go unsolved only because the seeker gave up. Pick a //Random Number.// If your name is Kelidrassi, then add 2 to this number. If your total is 4 or higher, [[turn to 61.->61]] Otherwise [[turn to 65.->65]] $RandNum

##16 The byway has just stopped being visible when a deep voice calls out an urgent command: “Oi, stop ya – don’t take another step!” A giant of a man emerges from the jungle. He has a full head of bright red hair and a beard to match. Slung over his right shoulder is a longbow so big you doubt you could pull the string, while at his waist hangs a naked machete, running with the sap of jungle weeds. He holds up his broad, calloused hands to show he means no harm then kneels in front of you and carefully brushes aside a scattering of fresh cut leaves and branches, revealing the spring loaded bear-trap hidden there. He wipes sweat from his brow. “You be lucky I was out checking the game trails,” he says, the sunlight glinting off the fangs of the trap. “Otherwise, you might have lost a foot. Not wise right now for a traveler to leave the road, not with the disappearances.” “You know about the merchants?” you ask. “Marchants?” the hunter asks, his voice thick with the accent of a northern homesteader. “I haven’t heard anything about marchants. I’m talking me animals. Dogs – hunting dogs, well trained. Three gone missing in the dead of night, no trace of em. There’s something out there, something what comes down from those cursed Mounds.” The Mounds. He is speaking of the Lod Mounds, a desolate land of hills and old ruins that lies past the jungle to the north west. “That’s a distance from here,” you comment. “Aye,” he agrees, pushing fingers through his red beard. “We used to range there, for the game is not much hunted. But evil has claimed that land. Our last hunt me wife and I heard things in the fog. Then the dogs start their yapping and yowling and off they are, nevermind my curses. Of the five that went, only one came back, and him so broken he ain’t good for nothin’ but sitting by the fire now.” He straightens and looks around him uneasily, as though the trees are listening. “If yer seeking something in the Lod Mounds, then you best avoid the jungle. Take the long way, down the road towards Herdos and then follow the river. It’s what sensible folk do – or would, if it were sensible to go the Mounds in the first place. Evil cannot abide the swift-running waters.” The disappearance of the dogs sounds disturbingly like the disappearance of the merchants. Close enough that you must investigate. The rest of his advice may be based on myth but is good guidance, nonetheless. The river path is a longer way to the Mounds but a surer one. Write (text-colour:yellow)[“Clue: Missing Dogs”] on your //Action Card.// Do you wish to reveal who you work for to the hunter, in the hopes he may tell you more? If so, [[turn to 63.->63]] If not, [[turn to 57.->57]]

##8 You are awoken from confused dreams to find yourself all in a sweat. The breeze has halted. There is the heavy stillness of a waiting storm in the air, though no rain has yet fallen. It is as though the skies are holding their breath. The silence is cut by a sudden cry of inarticulate, primal agony. Thunder rumbles across the sky and the storm breaks in a sudden cacophony of noise and flashes of lightning. In the brief illumination you see a man rushing forward, the screams pouring from his mouth. Before you can react, the man slams into you with all of his weight and you collapse to the ground with him on top of you, hands scrabbling at your throat. His strength is supernatural, his fingers chill as the grave. If you have the (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength], you may use it immediately (remember, you may only use it once this adventure!) to break the grapple and [[turn to 51.->51]] Otherwise, you are in combat with a Possessed Man. He is currently grappling you, preventing you from drawing a weapon until you break free. Pick a //Random Number.// If it is 0-3, (text-colour:blue)[lose 2 ENDURANCE] and pick again. Continue this until you pick a 4-9, at which point [[turn to 66.->66]] { $RandNum $Death (unless: (track: 'Battle', 'isplaying'))[ (track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'Battle', 'loop', true) (track: 'Battle', 'fadein', 1)]}

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/006.png"> } ##22 Dawn comes slow, the sun stretching out its golden arms to drive away the night. Rain fell for half the night, leaving the jungle steamy and humid under now clear, hot skies. You wince as you uncurl from your position and begin your morning routine of stretches, doing them three times until your joints and muscles loosen and you feel a little more energized. For breakfast, you have a long draught of water and a handful of nuts and berries you gather in a short walk around the area. You continue to hunt for useful items to eat or craft throughout the morning and can add one of the following to your //Action Card:// * (text-colour:green)[Meal] (which will stave off hunger) * (text-colour:green)[Healing Poultice] (restores 4 ENDURANCE after combat, gone after one use) * (text-colour:green)[A Torch] (which you fashion out a large branch and the oil of a certain leaf) By mid-morning you have broken through the treeline and stare out across a drab landscape of muddy valleys and hills, stacked nearly on top of each other until they become sharp peaked mountains rising out of the steamy fog many miles to the north. Before you lie the Lod Mounds, a fallow land where weeds and scrub grass provide most of the color and only thick-thorned blackberries thrive. Only in the deep valleys do trees flourish and then they are old, ominous behemoths, who greedily gobble up the sunlight before it ever reaches the valley floor. It is spoken by the people of Dalobu that the hills are cursed, though none can agree who or what cursed it. If your name is (text-colour:yellow)[Kelidrassi], [[turn to 46.->46]] Otherwise, pick a direction. You can head north, towards the distant mountains. [[Turn to 11.->11]] Or you can head west, towards the deeper valleys. [[Turn to 34.->34]]{ (track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'DL', 'loop', true) (track: 'DL', 'fadein', 2) }

##51 You wrap your hands around the man’s fingers and tighten your grip, squeezing until you feel the bones pop. He releases you, his wail changing to a high keen of pain that reminds you of a wounded and confused animal. It makes your blood pound and your teeth hurt. Then he begins flailing at you with his broken hands, raking dirty nails across your face (text-colour:blue)[(lose 2 ENDURANCE),] Sliding one of your blades smoothly out of your scabbard, you drive it through your assailant's chest. Don’t forget to mark that you’ve used your (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength] and may not again this adventure.[[Turn to 18.->18]]

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/005.png"> } ##18 The silence that falls is a blessing. The man’s screams end and he coughs up a meaty phlegm tinged with blood. “Three,” the man gasps in Sommlending, the language of the North. “It’s three – that’s the answer. I had to leave the others. Kai help me, I couldn’t… all sick… the Lod Mounds are close… save them…” The man shudders horribly as he dies, black eyes rolling up in his head, until you can see just the hint of white. You run a hand across your bruised throat and back away, trying to make sense of what just happened. Your attacker was middle-aged and dressed in rags that may once have been well fitting clothes. Several days of stubble cover his chin and cheeks. He wears a signet ring – it bears a symbol of talons gripping a clutch of wheat above the Sommlending symbol for “ten.” You may keep this (text-colour:green)[Signet Ring] if you wish, mark it on your //Action Card// and note the number “10” next to it. Several other more expensive rings adorn his dirt-crusted fingers but he wears no shoes. You consider this. Someone didn’t care about taking this man’s jewelry but didn’t want him to be able to travel far. A scattering of scars litters the area around his cheeks and lips, deep cuts recently made, though you cannot surmise their significance, nor do you understand why his eyes are filled with black. He said there were more he couldn’t save but he didn’t say what he needed to save them from. Wind moans like a wounded beast and, suddenly chilled, you snatch up your belongings and run from the area, paying little attention to the direction you are going as long as it is away from the scene of the horror. Though the rains have soon soaked you and your boots squelch with water, you do not stop to find shelter until exhaustion forces you to. At last you find a small indentation in a dirt wall, too shallow to be called a cave but enough to give you cover from the worst of the rain. You sit inside with your back pressed into the curve of the wall, watching the woods for any sign of movement. It is as you are sitting here that a thought occurs to you: what if that man was sick with some unknown plague that drives the mind insane? What if an animal were to find the body? Might their disease spread? The questions are too much for your belabored mind and you pass into a fitful sleep. [[Turn to 22.->22]] {(Track: 'Battle', 'Fadeout', 5)}

##46 Footprints are pressed deep into the muddy ground here. You kneel to examine them and can make out two sets. One belonged to an animal, a dog by the prints, though it would be one of abnormally large size. They trail off towards the west. You know from your studies of geography that the Lod Mounds descend into deep valleys to the west, while the land to the north is dotted with ruined castles and ancient holdings. You also find a cluster of Golden Shade Mushrooms growing on the side of a rotted log – they are a rare delicacy, which you excitedly pluck and eat, savoring the rich, buttery flavor. (text-colour:blue)[Recover 3 ENDURANCE], if you have lost any so far during the adventure (remember you cannot go above your starting score). Do you wish to head to the north, toward the old ruins? [[Turn to 11.->11]] Or you can follow in the direction of the beast. [[Turn to 34.->34]]

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/007.png"> } ##11 At times there is a path you follow, an old road rimmed intentionally by black river stones and mostly hidden under tangles of blackberry thorns. At other times you are left to find your own way up the hills, which grow ever more steep the closer you come to the peaks. The Xulun mountains are still miles away but jutting up in front of you like their offspring is a tall bluff of black jagged rock, its sides steep and intimidating. On its top squats a broken wall and turret of gray stone, all that remains of what once was a tall fortress with a view stretching all the way to the jungle. To reach it you will need to climb. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Rope,] [[turn to 21.->21]] Otherwise you can attempt the climb without rope, [[turn to 41.->41]] Or you can continue down into the valleys of the Lod Mounds by [[turning to 34.->34]]

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/009.png"> } ##34 Between the hills lie deep valleys and it is towards these that your path now wends, though to call the partial track made by boar and other game a “path” is being overly generous. In the valleys of the Lod Mounds life has found a way to survive. The blackberries still reign supreme but they share the land with old oaks and gnarled cedars pitted with holes and glossy with their own bleeding sap. Crows hunker in their hoary branches, watching your passage as you weave your way through the trees for hours while the sun rises to its zenith. Your usually unerring sense of direction fails you in a mist wrapped grove at the edge of a trickling stream. You replenish your waterskin and look around for a place to rest, finding a tall flat stone clenched by blackberry brambles and stained black from the berries. You grip a handful of the vines, watching out for the thorns, and yank them away, sending a flurry of crows cawing into the sky. Underneath the debris is revealed the carved face of a grinning wolf. It is an old prayer stone, a totem dating back to a time when Magnamund’s gods were more numerous. Every lake had a spirit, every grove a protector. This one depicts a wolf standing on its hind legs and holding a bowl out for supplication. You are hungry. If you do not have a (text-colour:green)[Meal] or do not wish to eat it, then (text-colour:blue)[lose 3 ENDURANCE] (erase the Meal if you eat it). Or, if instead of eating you wish to leave your Meal in the bowl as an offering, [[turn to 62.->62]] Otherwise... Is your name (text-colour:yellow)[Kelidrassi]? If so, [[turn to 72.->72]] You can head in the direction the Totem is staring towards, [[turn to 42.->42]] Or you can follow the stream, [[turn to 12.->12]]{ $Death }

##21 The jagged rock juts out in many places, providing ample holds for you to secure your rope, making the climb much easier. Despite this, you are still pouring sweat and breathing hard by the time you reach the top. (text-colour:blue)[Lose 1 ENDURANCE.] You regather your Rope before continuing on (do not erase it from your //Action Card//), [[Turn to 56.->56]] {$Death}

##41 The black rock is uneven and offers many good hand and footholds but the rocks are sharp, with edges like cut glass. If you have the ability (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength] and wish to use it, you can avoid the following challenge and instead [[turn immediately to 56.->56]] Otherwise, climbing this bluff requires picking //Random Numbers// (0 = 0) and adding them together until you reach a value of 18. Each time you pick a number, you (text-colour:blue)[lose 1 ENDURANCE], as the climb exhausts you and you cut your palms on the sharp rock. If you reach 0 ENDURANCE during this section, you slip and fall to your death. When you reach a value of 20 or higher, [[turn to 56.->56]] { $RandNum $Death }

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/008.png"> } ##56 After much effort, you pull yourself over the lip of the cliff with a final heave and find yourself crouched before the base of the castle (remember if you used your (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength] to reach this section, you may not use it again this adventure). Old and broken, with only three quarters of its wall and one towering turret intact, still the gray fortress is an intimidating sight. Its wall is not made of straight stone but rather entire boulders fit and fused together, an act you can only think was possible through the hands of giants, or the arcane tools of powerful mages. Whoever they were, and whatever their purpose, its original creators are gone, leaving behind only mystery and ruins. The wind sweeps over this rocky bluff, buffeting your face with your hair. You tie it back with a bit of twine and walk forward over the broken faces of grim beasts, carved into stone that has long ago fallen from its perch. Passing underneath the arch of a doorless gate you come into the castle courtyard. Shadows are everywhere, the gloom deepened by the umbra of the towering peaks in the distance. Then one of these shadows shifts and you realize you are not alone here. A man is in the courtyard, greasy black hair curtaining his features, hands rubbing hard furrows into his brow as he paces back and forth, the very image of anxiety. He wears boiled leathers and a battle-axe is slung across his back. You see each other at the same instant and he staggers as if struck, in one movement shrugging the strap of his axe off his shoulder so that the hilt swings into his hand. “Who are you?” he calls out. “Answer to me or answer to my blade.” If you believe this man could aid you and wish to explain that you are seeking for the lost merchants, [[turn to 26.->26]] If you wish to lie and say you are here seeking relics, [[turn to 39.->39]] If you remain silent and pull back into the darkness, [[turn to 20.->20]]

##26 “I am in search of a missing group of merchants,” you say, stepping forward with your hands raised. “The wagons and all their goods were found abandoned on the road to Herdos, just a few days past.” “Why do you care?” the man demands. “You with the Vakeros?” “I represent another interest,” you say. “One who wishes to keep a safe flame burning.” If this were someone born in Dalobu your reference would explain everything. As it is, the man only scrunches his face into a scowl. “Keep your riddles for another time. This is serious business. I knew those merchants: Merka and his wife, Frela. Their eldest son and his wife also travel with them.” You study the man’s mudstained armor and boots, the face whose creases are lined with road dust. “You were hired to guard them,” you guess, lowering your hands. The man grimaces. “I stepped away for a moment, just to answer a call of nature. When I got back, they were all gone.” If you ask, “What do you think happened?” [[turn to 71.->71]] If you ask, “What brought you here?” [[turn to 7.->7]]

##39 “I am naught but a wanderer in these parts,” you say, stepping from the shadows, though you keep one hand poised to draw a weapon. “I seek only relics of the ancients and mean you no harm.” “Liar,” the man snarls. “No one wanders these hills. You were sent by them, weren’t you? Now that I’m no longer of any use.” Before you can protest or question him further, the man breaks into a sprint, charging you with his axe pulled back to strike your head from your body. If you wield a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow] and wish to use it, then [[turn to 10.->10]] Otherwise, you enter combat, leaping aside from the Mercenary’s first wild swing and preparing to counter-attack. If you have the (text-colour:green)[Feat of Strength] available, you may use it now to add 4 to all damage you deal (remember you can only use it once during an adventure). ''Mercenary: ENDURANCE 16'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-2</td> <td>5</td> <td>0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-6</td> <td>4</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7-9</td> <td>2</td> <td>10</td> </tr> <tr> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>16</td> </tr> </table> If you defeat your opponent, [[turn to 14.->14]] { $Death $RandNum (track: 'DL', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'Battle', 'loop', true) (track: 'Battle', 'Fadein', 3) }

##20 When you refuse to answer, the man snarls, showing yellowed teeth. “An assassin, eh?” he accuses. “No doubt sent by //them// now that I’m of no further use. They think they can cheat me out the rest of what I’m owed? I’ll kill you and take your payment, instead!” So saying, the man raises his axe and launches himself across the courtyard at you. But you are ready, your weapon already in hand. Do you have a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow] and wish to use it? If so, [[turn to 10.->10]] Otherwise, you enter combat against this Mercenary, using the shadows as your ally to obfuscate your movements. In the first round of combat, pick two numbers and use the better result. ''Mercenary: ENDURANCE 16'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-2</td> <td>4</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-6</td> <td>3</td> <td>6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7-9</td> <td>2</td> <td>8</td> </tr> <tr> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>16</td> </tr> </table> If you defeat your opponent, [[turn to 14.->14]]{ $Death $RandNum (track: 'DL', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'Battle', 'loop', true) (track: 'Battle', 'Fadein', 3) }

##14 Blood runs from the body of the man to fill the myriad little trenches made by the uneven stone of the courtyard. On the dead man you find a writ of hire, promising him – named as Grimshaw in the contract – thirty Crowns for the job of protecting Merka’s wagons on their trip through Dessi, with a bonus if the sales are good. It is a generous offer but does not account for the purse you find on Grimshaw, a belt pouch nearly bursting with Gold Crowns – nor does it explain the note written in a shaky hand in ink that has blurred and run: (text-style:"blur")[“Leave them ALIVE at the appointed place. Meet us at the ruins for the second part of your reward.”] Clearly, he found a new employer, one who paid him to betray Merka. But why? What use would someone have for the merchants but not the merchandise? You also find a little bag of (text-colour:green)[Chikono Nuts], a nut that grows in the Stornlands to the northwest of Dessi. They are prized among mercenaries and caravan guards for their stimulating ability. Add them to your //Action Card.// You can eat them at the start of combat to allow you to repick a //Random Number// once during that combat and use either result to determine combat results. Erase them after one use. The money you leave on the corpse. Let Grimshaw see what good it does a traitor in Naar’s halls. Mind full of stories of secret passages and dungeons, you spend the next half hour scouring the old castle but you find nothing of interest. The sun is dropping quickly for the horizon and you do not wish to spend the night in this wretched castle. You find a goat path that heads down into a deep valley and follow it. Along the way you will be hungry. If you do not have a (text-colour:green)[Meal] or do not wish to eat it, then (text-colour:blue)[lose 3 ENDURANCE.] Erase the Meal if you use it. If you have a Map, you can use it by adding a number it references to this section. The result is the new section you should turn to (click here). If you do not, [[turn to 42.->42]] { (click: "turn to (click here)")[(set: $Map to (prompt: [//add the item number to 14.//], "ENTER ANSWER HERE")) (if: $Map is '28')[(go-to: '28')] (else:)[(go-to: 'Map Wrong 1')]] (unless: (track: 'DL', 'isplaying'))[ (Track: 'Battle', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'DL', 'loop', true) (track: 'DL', 'play')] $Death }

##10 Quick as lightning, your Shortbow is in your hand with an arrow nocked. You don’t know if the man has other protection under the boiled leather so you aim for his exposed face. You have been taught by Nessa to try and take down your enemy with only a single shot, for sometimes – like now – that is all that you get time for. Pick a //Random Number.// If the total is 0-3, [[turn to 44.->44]] If the total is 4 or higher, [[turn to 9.->9]] { $RandNum }

##32 Grimshaw leads you to the castle’s one standing tower and mounts a set of spiraling stairs, warning you to mind the gaps. “This place was old when the Elder Magi were young,” Grimshaw grumbles as you leap over a place where four stairs in a row have fallen. Not likely, you think, as the Magi have not been young for 8,000 years, but you keep your observation to yourself. A short time later you are at the top floor of the turret. A huge gouge has been taken out of the western wall, leaving an entrance to open air through which the wind whistles. This is where Grimshaw points. “I’ve been keeping watch here for any signs of something suspicious. And, well… look down there, between the two largest boulders, at the base of the next hill over.” You move to the hole and look out upon a land turned a muddy orange by the setting sun. The mists are settling in the valleys but you can see the two rocks easily enough. They jut from the earth like the fangs of a buried beast, the sunset tipping them with a bloody red. You squint and peer closer. There is a person standing in the shadow of the rocks, staring up at the castle. You have the unsettling feeling that their eyes are piercing the distance between you. Do you wish to study this person further? [[Turn to 78.->78]] Or do you wish to step away from the hole? [[Turn to 47.->47]]

##78 With sudden, unexpected force you are flung forward and off the tower, falling into open air. You do not fall long enough to have a chance to scream but it is far enough to shatter your skull on impact with the rocky ground. Your life and your mission end here. {$Death}

##47 You are stepping aside when you hear the scraping of boots on the stones behind you. Pick a //Random Number.// If your name is (text-colour:yellow)[Kelidrassi], add 2 to the number chosen. If the result is 0-2, [[turn to 78.->78]] If the result is 3 or higher, [[turn to 52.->52]] { $RandNum }

##52 You step aside, barely dodging out of the way of Grimshaw, who has rushed forward with hands outstretched to shove you off the tower. You don’t know whether it was instinct or intuition that saved your life but it is your training which causes you to lash out with a kick to the small of Grimshaw’s back, giving the caravan guard just enough momentum to carry him with a final shriek through the hole. You look back towards the boulders but whomever you saw before has disappeared, though you do spot a hidden goat path which leads off the cliff and down to the two boulders. When you descend the tower you pause at Grimshaw’s corpse. Searching him, you find a writ of hire, promising the mercenary thirty Crowns for the job of protecting Merka’s wagons on their trip through Dessi, with a bonus if the sales were good. It is a generous offer but does not account for the purse you also find, a belt pouch full to bursting with Gold Crowns – nor does it explain the note written in a shaky hand in ink that has blurred and run: (text-style:"blur")[“Leave them ALIVE at the appointed place. Meet us at the ruins for the second part of your reward.”] Clearly, Grimshaw found a new employer, one who paid him to betray Merka and his family. You also find a little bag of (text-colour:green)[Chikono Nuts], a nut that grows in the Stornlands to the northwest of Dessi. They are prized among mercenaries and caravan guards for their stimulating ability. Add them to your //Action Card.// You can eat them at the start of combat to allow you to repick a //Random Number// once during that combat and use either result to determine combat results. Erase them after one use. The coin you leave alone, holding to an old Dessi saying: "gold ill gained to a curse be chained." You take the goat path and soon are at the mammoth stones, which tower above you like crouched Ogrons, even bigger than you had thought from up on the tower. There is a cave at their base, a small jagged gap in the side of the hill they lean against. Determined to investigate, you squeeze yourself through the crack just as the last rays of sunlight grace the earth. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch], you must light it now (erase it from your //Action Card//). [[Turn to 6.->6]]

{<img class="illustration" src="Images/012.png">} ##40 Light in hand, you follow the passage, which used to have branching paths that are now choked with collapsed earth and rocks. The deeper you go and the more of these cave-ins you walk past the more claustrophobic you become until you are yearning for a breath of fresh air or a sight of the night sky. Abruptly the tunnel bends at a right angle and past this there is a fifteen-foot pit, about the limit of your jumping ability. From deep within the pit comes a sudden flash of green light which travels up the walls like a wave. Before it disappears, you see skulls, hundreds of them lining the walls. Most appear to have belonged to animals of some kind, though you spot at least one grinning human visage among them. Voices drift up out of this unexpected well, just the barest whispers. Past the pit the tunnel goes on and the ground becomes noticeably smoother. If you wish to leap over the pit to this smoother path, [[turn to 69.->69]] If you wish instead to climb into the hole, [[turn to 54.->54]]

##44 You know the shot is poor even as you release it. The arrow punches into the shoulder of your attacker, causing him to grunt in pain but not to slow his charge. Another arrow is in your hand in an instant but even as you draw back the bow the man is upon you. In a single swing of his axe he lops your head from your shoulders, sending it spinning in a spray of blood through the broken gate. Your life and mission end here. {$Death}

##9 A soft thwack announces the accuracy of your shot, the arrow punching through your attacker’s forehead. He pitches forward, the axe clattering loudly against the stone. Erase one (text-colour:green)[Arrow] and [[turn to 14.->14]]

##28 You look across the surrounding land and pause, recognizing several landmarks from the map you found. Pulling it out to read, you witness a remarkable change occur. As if the map senses you are close to what it wants to show you, marks made in a secretive ink appear, revealing a path that marches across the folds of the parchment into a valley named “The Wolver Vale.” Matching the map to the geography around you, you think you are able to pick out which direction it is showing you and set off to follow the mystery path. [[Turn to 27.->27]] { (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'Stop') }

##42 For the rest of the day you explore the valleys. When night arrives it does so swiftly, the hills drawing a blanket of shadows over you so dense that you are forced to stop and wait for the stars to appear before continuing. Thankfully, the moon is near full tonight and the land around you is soon painted with Ishir’s silver shine. Presently you resume walking, your mind and body tense with a precognitive confidence that you are heading in the right direction. It is around midnight when you come to the hole. It is wide and gaping, easily large enough to swallow a person whole. Its edges are ragged rumps of soil as though this were a boil that burst, leaving the skin around it scarred. Ridges carved into the walls of the pit seem deliberate, as if an attempt was made to form a ladder, though how far down it goes is impossible to tell for beyond a few feet the pit is layered with an obfuscating veil of darkness. Suddenly you hear cries for help. It is the voice of a young boy, pleading with you to come down into the hole and rescue him. When you call out, asking who he is and how he came to be stuck in the hole, he only cries the louder. Do you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch] and wish to use it to examine the hole more closely? [[Turn to 37.->37]] Or do you have a (text-colour:green)[Rope] and wish to lower it down to the boy? [[Turn to 85.->85]] If not, you can climb into the dark hole after the voice, [[turn to 23.->23]] Or if you wish to ignore this hole and hurry on your way, [[turn to 58.->58]] Or, if you have a Map, you can use it by subtracting a number it references from this section. The result is the new section you should turn to (click here). { (click: "turn to (click here)")[(set: $Map to (prompt: [//subtract the item number from 42.//], "ENTER ANSWER HERE")) (if: $Map is '28')[(go-to: '28')] (else:)[(go-to: 'Map Wrong 2')]] }

##27 Deeper into the valley you come across a place where the trees are slumped over like people struck by disease and sorrow. A path of these stunted trees leads to an archway made of stones the color of a starless midnight, all that remains of what must have once been – judging by the arch’s size – a fortress or maybe a cathedral. No other sign of the structure remains, not even two rocks set atop one another. The entire area is choked by brambles. No berry nor fruit clings to these gnarled vines, only razor-sharp thorns. Looking closer, you see the husks of small animals caught in the wrap of briars, their lifeless bodies impaled on the thorns. As you approach the archway, your gut tightens and you pause. Your forearm is burning as if the brands there were fresh received and you can hear whispers which dart away from you every time you turn your head. Still, you are the flame, that which is meant to expose darkness. Ghosts and whispers may turn aside a regular warrior but they will not stop you. Indeed, they are like a beacon, telling you that you are close to what you seek. You pass under the archway and ignore the twist in your gut as you explore the area. The brambles all come together in a mighty clump over a jutting rock. Curious, you draw closer and your tuned senses pick up the slight whistle of wind passing beyond the holes in this gnarled barrier. This alone alerts you that the brambles are disguising the entrance to some sort of cave or tunnel. All of your instincts tell you that what you seek is beyond this doorway. Yet as you reach out to clear the obstruction, the vines move, whipping up from the ground and slashing at you, the thorns like a hundred daggers wielded by assassins intent on your demise. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch] then you light it now and wield it in one hand (erase it from your //Action Card//); as a result, add 2 to all damage you deal this combat. ''Druidic Nettle: ENDURANCE 9'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-3</td> <td>3</td> <td>1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4-7</td> <td>1</td> <td>2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8-0</td> <td>1</td> <td>4</td> </tr> </table> If you win this combat, then you manage to cut away enough of the brambles to jump through the hole, the spiked tendrils whipping madly at your back as you escape. [[Turn to 6.->6]] { $RandNum $Death (track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Evil', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Battle', 'loop', true) (track: 'Battle', 'Fadein', 3) }

##62 You leave your meager offering in the wolf’s bowl and bow your head. For lack of any other prayer, you repeat a mantra you’ve heard before in the Order: “Father Day and Mother Night, always watching. Light my way to the hearth at the end of the road.” It is a grim prayer, yet it feels appropriate. Erase the (text-colour:green)[Meal] from your //Action Card.// Put a (text-colour:yellow)[checkmark] by your name but don’t forget to also (text-colour:blue)[remove 3 ENDURANCE] for forgoing eating. Is your name (text-colour:yellow)[Kelidrassi]? If so, [[turn to 72.->72]] You can head in the direction the Totem is staring towards, [[turn to 42.->42]] Or you can follow the stream, [[turn to 12.->12]] { $Death }

##12 It is impossible to tell how far along the evening is for a thick canopy of fog has descended upon the valley you now hike through. There is no cry of animals, not even the rustle of little creatures in the undergrowth to show that any heart beats here but yours. You hear the clang of metal and the cracking of bone before you feel the pain shooting into you, radiating up your leg. You have stepped into a decaying wolf trap and its metal jaws are now clamped shut on your rapidly swelling ankle ((text-colour:blue)[lose 2 ENDURANCE]). Thankfully, the trap’s teeth have long broken away but still you are stuck and the pain courses up your leg with each beat of your heart. The trap is chained to a nearby stake driven deep into the earth and so you are left with no option except to work open the rusted jaws. Before you can begin, a howl rips through the air, a cry like a tortured ghost. Despite all of your training and the strange and often terrible things you’ve witnessed and survived as a member of the Waking Flame, this otherworldly cry draws a gasp from you and a shudder marches down your spine. Your heartbeat pounds faster as you hear something large crashing through the jungle, panting hungrily. You grab the jaws of the trap and strain your muscles, the mantra of the Flame running through your mind: //My inner fire burns away all fear It is fuel for my strength.// If you are able to use the ability (text-colour:green)[Feat of Strength] and want to, then [[turn to 68.->68]] Otherwise, pick a //Random Number.// If the result is 0-4, [[turn to 19.->19]] If it is 5 or higher, [[turn to 38.->38]] { $RandNum $Death }

##37 Green-and-gold winged moths beat soft wings against your cheeks, drawn by the light of your torch. You hold it over the hole, thrusting it forward as far as your arm will carry it. The gloom pulls back and now you see what it was hiding. Spiders. Dozens of thick bodies covered in gray fur crawl over each other in their haste to escape the light. What you took to be a wall they were climbing over shifts and you realize it is the bulk of their gigantic eight-legged mother. The creature turns itself until its eight glowing red eyes are staring up at you. Fur-tipped fangs spread open above wiggling chelicerae and the spider – easily twice the size of a horse – speaks in the boy’s voice: //won’t you come and save me please?// She climbs the wall swiftly, her children clinging to her back. All the while the boy’s sobs you heard earlier dribble from her open maw. Leaping away from the pit you drop the Torch and draw your weapon. (Remove the (text-colour:green)[Torch] from your //Action Card.//) You are in combat with a mutant arachnid. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow] then you may erase an arrow every round of combat to ignore taking any damage or Poison because you are able to stay out of the Spider’s reach. If you are using (text-colour:green)[Short Swords], add 2 to all damage you deal. ''Gray Hyena Spider: ENDURANCE 20'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-3</td> <td>3 //(Poison)//</td> <td>0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4-7</td> <td>2 //(Poison)//</td> <td>5</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8-0</td> <td>0</td> <td>8</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td>Ashen Poison: Mark Poison on your Action Card. If ever you mark your fourth Poison, you instantly die.</td> </tr> </table> If you win this combat, [[turn to 74.->74]] { $RandNum $Death (Track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Trauma', 'loop', true) (track: 'Trauma', 'fadein', 3) }

{ <img class="illustration" src="Images/011.png"> } ##23 The cries for help continue to urge you forward until you are swallowed by the darkness: //Please, faster. Help…// “Where are you?” you call. At the sound of your voice, the pleas stop. At the same moment you feel the light touch of something stirring the skin of your left arm. You go to brush it away and the touch changes, becoming the feel of tiny feet running up to your shoulder. Cold sweat pours out over your body as you begin beating at your shoulder with your free hand, feeling thick furry bodies bump against your palm. Then the darkness is replaced by a red light emanating from a long chasm in the wall beside the ladder. As it grows brighter you realize it is eight glowing eyes set above a massive pair of furred fangs. Chelicerae wriggle beneath those fangs as the largest spider you’ve ever seen – larger than a horse – emerges from the crack to wrap its long legs around you. Its children, already crowding your back and shoulders, take this as their signal to feed, driving their fangs at once into your skin, sending fire coursing up and down your body. The mother lets out a horrendous cry – the sobbing pleas of the boy you heard earlier – which changes to a deep chuckle, as it shoves you into its waiting maw. You have been lured to your doom by a Gray Hyena Spider, a masterful hunter and mimic. { $Death }

##74 Your last blow punctures one of the arachnid’s octadic eyes. It shudders and makes a strangled sound deep in its gullet, pleading with you in the young boy’s voice to //help, please help.// Then, legs kicking, it rolls sideways into the hole and disappears. Backing away, you turn and run from the hole in a blind panic. For several minutes you run until exhaustion pumps awareness back into your mind. You slow down, catch your breath and silence your nerves, picturing a flame burning away your fears, a mental exercise taught to you by Nessa. As you do, you speak aloud: “Though the light may blind me, never will my eye be more than half-lidded. Though the fire may burn me, never will I turn from it.” It works and soon enough you are breathing normally and able to regain your control and continue on. [[Turn to 27.->27]] { (Track: 'Trauma', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'DL', 'loop', true) (track: 'DL', 'play') }

##68 On the ship you grew up on it was only the strong who survived. You watched other children be worked to death while you kept going through sheer determination – a strength that was more than physical. It was your willpower which kept you alive on the days with little food and scant protection from the sea storms. No rusty trap can withstand such a willpower, forged as it were between salt and starvation. It lends your muscles the ability to tear the jaws apart, snapping springs and steel. Then you are away, ignoring the pain in your foot, convincing yourself that it doesn’t hurt even as each throb screams otherwise. Eventually, your mind wins out over the pain and you run until you no longer hear the panting behind you. Only then do you stop and tend to your injury. Don’t forget to mark that you’ve used your (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength] and cannot do so again this adventure. [[Turn to 27.->27]]

##19 You cry out in desperation, muscles straining to no avail. An answering cry sounds from the surrounding shadows and suddenly before you stands an enormous hound, pus-tainted spittle running from its jaws, blind eyes bulging with maggots, huge gray paws patchy with rash and illness. Yet it has no trouble using other senses to find you, for it opens those jaws wide and lunges for your face. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow and Arrows] and wish to use them, [[turn to 33.->33]] Otherwise, you draw your melee weapon and prepare to defend yourself as best you can. You are in combat with a Plague Hound. You may also light your (text-colour:green)[Torch] – if you have one – and wield it in one hand (erase it from your //Action Card// if you do). The Hound fears the flames and deals 1 less damage each round to you. ''Plague Hound: ENDURANCE 18'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>[[Turn to 77.->77]]</td> <td>0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2-3</td> <td>4</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4-6</td> <td>3</td> <td>6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7-9</td> <td>2</td> <td>9</td> </tr> <tr> <td>0</td> <td>1</td> <td>18</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td>Note: If you have the (text-colour:green)[Chain of Ishir], repick all results of 1.</td> </tr> </table> If you win this combat, [[turn to 5.->5]]{ $RandNum $Death (Track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Trauma', 'loop', true) (track: 'Trauma', 'fadein', 3) }

##38 Again a horrible howl splits the air and your hand shakes and slips, slicing a deep cut from finger to wrist ((text-colour:blue)[lose 2 ENDURANCE]). Your hands now slippery with blood, you struggle to pull open the jaws. Just when you think it is hopeless, the metal finally whines and snaps apart with a puff of rust. As you begin to run your ankle sends new screams of pain through your body. Your vision blurs but you push it aside, gasping the words you were taught when the brand of the Flame was pressed against your skin: “I shall know no pain but the pain of the flame. Its fire consumes all other fires.” You run until the sounds of pursuit no longer echo behind you and the fog has diminished. Your ankle has swollen badly and you are forced to cut strips of bitter-sap bark from the surrounding trees, securing them with ties of cloth torn from your sleeves. It throbs but you know that soon the sap will do its job and numb it. Until then, any thoughts of pain you simply feed to your inner fire. [[Turn to 27.->27]]{ $Death }

##72 You carefully examine the dirt. Thankfully, last night’s rains have churned the ground into mud in which the paws of the beast you’ve been following have left clear prints. They follow the line of the stream, continuing towards what you now believe is the west. Do you wish to continue following the tracks? If so, [[turn to 12.->12]] Or you can abandon the tracks and turn to the north, [[proceed to 42.->42]]

##5 Tongue lolling, the hound staggers back. It sways from one side to the next like a ship in storm then lets out a pitiful whine before toppling over on its right side with a final wheeze. The fog immediately begins to dissipate, as though it were a parasite clung to the beast. You focus on freeing your throbbing ankle then limp over to examine the maggot-riddled corpse. You find several signs that the poor creature was being held in a state somewhere between life and death, an unlife of perpetual suffering which you have brought to a close. You have heard of such creatures before though never before have you faced one in combat. This is a Plague Hound, an abomination belonging to the Cener Druids, who developed these and other more horrific mutations as weapons and servants. The sight of it here pulls your mind back to Nessa’s chambers, to her fears and warnings. Whomever is behind the disappearance of the merchants must have a lair somewhere here in the Mounds, for their abomination to be guarding this area. You take a moment to tend to your ankle, wrapping it in pain-numbing bitter-sap bark, before deciding what to do next. You can try to search for the Plague Hound's den, [[turn to 53.->53]] Or, if you fear running into more of these abominations, you can leave this area and try to climb out of the valley. [[Turn to 58.->58]]{ (track: 'Trauma', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'DL', 'loop', true) (track: 'DL', 'play') }

##33 The beast is loping for you, slavering jaws opened wide. You smell your death on its acrid breath. Erase an (text-colour:green)[Arrow], pick a //Random Number// and consult the list below: * 8-9: your arrow punctures one of the blind eyeballs and buries itself in the hound’s brain. [[Turn to 5.->5]] * 5-7: your arrow flies into the open jaws and rips out the back of the beast’s throat. It vomits forth a torrent of putrid bile which burns like acid where it runs across your skin. (text-colour:blue)[Lose 3 ENDURANCE] and [[turn to 5.->5]] * 0-4: the horrible hound leaps aside at the last moment, dodging your shot! If you have another arrow, you may erase it and try again. [[Otherwise, turn to 77.->77]]{ $RandNum $Death }

##53 After some time your efforts are rewarded by the discovery of a den dug into the side of a steep mound. The smell of rot and diseased dung hangs over the small cave but you cover your nose and push inside, using your weapon to push aside clumps of pus-matted fur until you uncover a stone lever in the ground. You pull it and the back of the den swings open to reveal a hidden passage. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch], you must light it now (erase it from your //Action Card//). [[Turn to 6.->6]]

##35 Beyond the door is a chamber made of stone blacker than dreamless sleep, giving you the unsettling impression the room never ends. An iron cauldron, gray and rusted, is bubbling over a roaring fire in the center of the room, green and purple liquid sputtering out like a breaking pustule. Red smoke rises from the fire and pools at the top of the room, escaping slowly through unseen vents. Out of the cauldron run thick tubes made of animal gut, like engorged worms, slopping over the cauldron’s sides and snaking across the floor to four tables, three of which hold people: two women and a young man. They are dressed in soiled clothes meant for road travel but finely woven with rich materials, the clothes of well-to-do caravaneers. On their faces have been placed strange animal half-masks, leaving their noses and mouths exposed. The tubes run up the tables and are shoved into their open mouths, their throats convulsing around the thick, semi-translucent guts. You have found the merchants. "Animals... animals in purpose if not in form,” a high-pitched voice says from the shadows. Its owner steps out of the depths of the room and draws near the cauldron, grinning at you. He is a specter of a man, far too thin with long spindly arms emerging from the sleeves of his tattered purple robes. He is bald as a baby without even eyebrows to arch over his wide bulbous eyes. His thin lips crease into a greasy smile that doesn’t move a single other muscle on his face. “Your timing could not be more perfect,” a second voice says, this one wet and lispy. Another man emerges to stand next to the first, his face made red and demonic by the fire but otherwise so similar in appearance to the other that they have to be twins. He licks his glistening lips with a thick tongue. “We lost one recently, as you can see, so we have a vacancy for you.” “Yes,” the other agrees. “We’ve been a little sloppy. These animals have been exposed to a horrible infection, I’m afraid. No telling what’s been let free in the world now that one escaped.” He makes a mockery of a frown then bursts into a fit of giggles. “We will rectify our mistakes,” the other twin lisps, raising a hand to his heart solemnly, the fingers resting there like those of a skeleton. “And that’s why you’re going to have to stay here with us – in quarantine – until we can fix you.” In response you ready your weapon and the Twins gasp – not with fear but with delight. The one who just spoke raises his thin hand and points. “Brother, look at her mark. She is of the Order, one of the Flame. They do still exist.” “The Künae smile upon us,” the other says, voice quivering with excitement. “Our old enemy still lives for us to torment. We shall have our revenge.” Like embers sprung from a fire-heated pit, the stories of the high priests of the Cenerese who decimated your Order two centuries ago leap into your mind. You now confront those same priests – every instinct and intuition tells you this is so – but you are given no time to come to terms with this overwhelming revelation. “Children, seize her!” the Twins command simultaneously and as though rising from their graves the merchants groan and step with naked feet onto the stone floor, pus-colored drool dripping from around the tubes still stuffed into their mouths. They surround you, some with hands balled into fists, others wielding crude knives and scalpels snagged from the tables. Behind their masks you can see that their eyes are completely black, like an overfull inkwell. They are innocents in all this, their minds trapped by the workings of their insane captors. If you have a checkmark next to your name, [[turn to 31.->31]] Otherwise, if you wish to fight the merchants, [[turn to 15.->15]] Or if you want to try and knock over the huge cauldron and disrupt the spell, [[turn to 45.->45]]

(click: "here to enter the total")[(set: $clue to (prompt: [The total of 27 + your number is...], "TYPE NUMBER HERE")) (if: $clue is '53')[(go-to: '53: Tracks of the wolf')] (else:)[(go-to: '50: Living Brambles')]]

{<img class="illustration" src="Images/010.png">} ##77 Hot jaws snap shut around your neck and with a single mighty jerk of its powerful neck the hound rips out your throat. Death is mercifully quick for you, saving you the horror of being devoured alive. Your life and quest end here. { $Death }

##25 An arrow was fitted to your bow even as you broke the man’s iron hold on you. You wait for another crack of lightning and as soon as it shows you your opponent’s snarling face and outstretched hands, you release the shot (erase an (text-colour:green)[Arrow]). Pick a //Random Number.// If you (text-colour:yellow)[lit a fire] earlier, then its smoldering embers provide a little more light and you should add 2 to the number picked (remember, if you haven’t used (text-colour:yellow)[Foresight] yet and have this ability, you may use it here, though only once this adventure!) * 5-9: You are relieved to see the arrow fly true and cleanly puncture the man’s heart. [[Turn to 18.->18]] * 1-4: Your fear betrays you and your aim is off, sending an arrow whizzing into the jungle. The man is upon you a moment later, clubbing you in the side of the head with a wild swing of his fist. You stagger back and draw your dagger. Lose (text-colour:blue)[2 ENDURANCE] and [[turn back to section 66->66]], where you should begin melee combat. * 0: The man is faster than you had anticipated. He collides with you and you never see whether your arrow struck home, for in the dark he manages to free your dagger from your belt and drives it up under your chin. Your life and your mission end here, in failure. { $RandNum $Death }

##31 Suddenly there is a growl and something large and incandescent darts past you, leaping at the cauldron. When it strikes it, the pot explodes. You step away from the boiling liquid, lifting a warding hand against the rush of steam. When again you lower it, you see the merchants all lying on the floor amid pools of the disgusting liquid, limbs sprawled, blood running from their mouths where the tubes have been ripped free. You can tell in a glance they are dead. Red light flares to life, revealing the Twins, each of them holding a free-floating flame in one hand and vicious daggers in the other. “She destroyed our experiment, brother,” one of them lisps, spittle flying from his lips in rage. “The worm is dead.” “There is one yet free, the one that was inside the husband,” the other says, his own voice sharp as a wasp’s sting. “We will find it. After we teach this woman a lesson.” They advance but hardly have they taken two steps when the light returns. This time its shape is clear: it is a shimmering wolf, huge in size, a growl rising from its throat. At first you think it is a conjuration of your enemies but then the creature steps to your side and you recognize the markings around its face – it is the same wolf that was carved into the totem you left the offering at. A single look from the wolf calms your guilt – the merchants were beyond saving, the look says. Instead you are filled with fury at the ones who captured and tortured them. “Together, then,” you say, and with the wolf at your side, you rush forward to attack. You are in combat with The Twins. Every round after picking a number you can decide to either double the damage dealt to the enemy or half the damage dealt to you, due to the assistance of the wolf. If you have the (text-colour:green)[Chain of Ishir] then once during this combat you may re-pick your Random Number, keeping the second result. ''The Twins: ENDURANCE 40'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-2</td> <td>8</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-5</td> <td>6</td> <td>5</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6-8</td> <td>4</td> <td>6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9-0</td> <td>2</td> <td>8</td> </tr> </table> When you reduce the enemy to 10 or less ENDURANCE, do not continue combat but instead [[turn to 67.->67]] { $Death $RandNum (Track: 'Tomb', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Horror', 'loop', true) (track: 'Horror', 'Fadein', 3, 'volume', .2) }

##15 You had never held much hope of finding the kidnapped merchants alive. Now, as they close in on you from all sides, the animal masks crooked on their mindless faces, tubes trailing from their mouths like extra organs, you try to think of them as already beyond saving. These are prisoners whose only relief will come from death – or so you tell yourself as you raise your weapon. You are in combat. If you are wielding a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow] then you can erase as many (text-colour:green)[Arrows] as you have available at the beginning of combat. For each one you erase, pick a number from the Random Number Table and deal that much damage to The Infected (0 = 0). Then proceed with combat as normal. ''The Infected: ENDURANCE 23'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>[[Turn to 59.->59]]</td> <td>0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2-3</td> <td>5</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4-6</td> <td>3</td> <td>5</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7-9</td> <td>3</td> <td>8</td> </tr> <tr> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>11</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td>If you are wielding two (text-colour:green)[Short Swords] (not just one) then re-pick all results of 1.</td> </tr> </table> If you defeat The Infected, [[turn to 82.->82]] { $Death $RandNum (Track: 'Tomb', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Horror', 'loop', true) (track: 'Horror', 'Fadein', 3, 'volume', .2) }

##45 You have no desire to engage these innocent victims in combat. Instead you resolve to disrupt the magic possessing them. You rush to the cauldron, bracing yourself to tip the huge kettle. It is burning hot to the touch and you shout out in pain as the iron bites the skin from your fingers. (text-colour:blue)[Lose 2 ENDURANCE] and if you are still alive, then you ignore the pain and focus on pushing. If you have and wish to use the (text-colour:green)[Feat of Strength] (and haven’t already this adventure) then [[turn to 70.->70]] Otherwise, you have one chance before the merchants close on you. Pick a //Random Number//. If the total is 6 or higher, [[turn to 70.->70]] If the total is 5 or lower, [[turn to 64.->64]] { $Death $RandNum }

##60 Darkness is all around you now, the only sound the slapping of your boots on the stone and the panting of your labored breath. A door looms up sudden and unexpected around a dark twisting turn and you have no time to slow your momentum. Thankfully, it is old and rotten and you crash through it, breaking into a long tunnel draped with vines. Beyond them you can smell fresh air and see the glint of dawn. You keep running and finally emerge into the open air. Rarely has the sun’s early light felt so embracing. But you stop only to take one deep breath and then you are running again, heading south-east for Dalobu. For over an hour you run, slowing at times but never stopping, until the Lod Mounds are far behind you and you are once again surrounded by the lively animal noises of the Kantara Jungle. Even then, you push yourself until you no longer can, finally collapsing on tall grass in the middle of a clearing. Here you lose your senses for a time, pulled into a dreamless sleep born of exhaustion. A soft nuzzling at your ear awakens you. You come awake with a start, leaping to your feet in a panic and badly startling the deer that accidentally mistook your ear for a bit of grass. It gives a panicked honk and leaps away, darting back into the jungle. You stare after it numbly, trying to reconcile this comical yet graceful sight with the horrors you have faced. Then a shocking pain rips through your right leg. Do you have the Clue, “(text-colour:yellow)[Missing Dogs],” written on your //Action Card//? If so, [[turn to 4.->4]] Do you have the (text-colour:green)[Signet Ring]? If so, [[turn to 75.->75]] If you have neither, [[turn to 86.->86]] { (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'stop') (Track: 'Tomb', 'Fadeout', 3) (Track: 'Horror', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Finale', 'Fadein', 2) }

##24 Whether you take a wrong turn or this is some evil trick of this cursed lair, you do not end up back where you thought you would and soon are lost in an underground labyrinth with the sounds of pursuit echoing all around you. Turning a corner you stumble upon a cavernous underground temple, carved entirely out of red stone, shot through with veins of black. A circle of colossal pillars runs the perimeter of the sanctum, each one showing a depiction of a monstrous humanoid, faces stretched in paroxysms of pain. At the base of each is a door. In the middle of the circle stands the most grotesque of all the statues, this one of two twin monsters, each squat with bulbous torsos and talon-like feet. Their flat heads are studded with polyps and ulcers, and their indented eye-slits radiate an evil yellow light. As you stare, caught between fascination and disgust at this monument to evil, two cracked voices reverberate through the cavern: “Ye who have come to our place of worship, know that only those worthy of our intellect may leave. Answer our riddle and we shall grant ye passage. “Upon Ghandezh, the Wyrm of Naaros, all of our thirty-three servants were gathered in a circle for a feast. Each was either a truth teller who always tells the truth, or a liar who always tells lies. All of the servants said the same thing: //The next ten servants on my right are all liars.// How many truth tellers were in attendance?” With that, the voices fall silent, replaced instead by a different set of twin voices. Your pursuers are nearby, their curses and threats drawing ever closer. Click here to attempt to answer the riddle. { (click: "Click here")[(set: $clue to (prompt: [//The next ten servants on my right are all liars.// How many truth tellers were in attendance?], "ENTER NUMBER HERE")) (if: $clue is '3')[(go-to: '3')] (else:)[(go-to: 'Bad Riddle')]]}

##58 The land is a sea of darkness upon which are imprinted paths of moonlight. These you follow, trying to steer your way upwards and out of the deeper valleys. And yet no matter how many hills you crest, there is always a greater one just beyond. Following the moon eventually steers you to the top of a steep canyon, its sudden edge lined by ancient trees grown thick and close together. They loom over you like disapproving grandfathers with beards of hanging moss. At first you think it is the wind passing through their branches that is making the whistling sound but then you see movement, something crawling its way through the trees. It is shaped almost like a human but it moves oddly, crouched so low to the ground its belly slides across the ground like a snake, and making a wet snuffling sound as it moves from the base of one tree to the next. Suddenly it stops and raises its head in your direction, letting out a long low hum. The sound surrounds you, squeezing the breath from you. Your own thoughts become difficult to think and instead are replaced with a hissing command to join the “others.” As if shoved forward, you feel yourself begin to move and with horror realize you are taking steps against your will – towards the edge of the canyon! If you have (text-colour:green)[Rope], [[turn to 55.->55]] If not, you can try to resist, [[turn to 36.->36]] Or you can try to attack the creature from where you are, by throwing one of your weapons. If so, choose whether you are using a (text-colour:green)[Dagger or a Short Sword] (you must have it on your //Action Card// to be able to use it) and then [[turn to 2.->2]] { (Track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Evil', 'loop', true) (track: 'Evil', 'fadein', 3) }

##59 Chaos is all around you, blows coming from all directions, the animal masks leering at you out of the smoke obscured air. The merchants are uncommonly strong. You raise a hand, blocking a punch from one that slams against your forearm like a hammer. You step forward, poised to counterattack, but then one of the others charges into you from the side, carrying you down to the floor. Immediately the others are there. One – an old woman – leaps onto your chest, the tube flapping from her mouth like a grotesque tongue. A scalpel flashes in her upraised hand, cutting a line through your flesh (text-colour:blue)[(lose 2 ENDURANCE).] The eyes behind her deer mask are lifeless and completely black; drools slathers from the fleshy tube. If you are still alive, then you may have an item in your possession that could affect these merchants. To show it to them, choose an item on your //Action Card// (text-colour:yellow)[that has a number written next to it], subtract this number from the current section (59), and turn to that new section. If the right item has been used, it will be referenced in the first sentence. To enter this number, first click here. If you do not have such an item, [[click here instead.->No item]] { (click: "first click here")[(set: $Ring to (prompt: [//subtract the item number from 59.//], "ENTER ANSWER HERE")) (if: $Ring is '49')[(go-to: '49')] (else:)[(go-to: 'No item')]] $Death}

You are unable to discover the correct passage. Before long, the Twins emerge from the shadows and fall upon you with triumphant cries. All of your skills are no match for their power and zealous fury in this cathedral of suffering. Your life and mission end here. { $Death (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'Stop')}

##3 As soon as you speak the answer aloud, a door at the base of one of the monstrous pillars clicks and swings open. You hesitate, staring up at the three-armed statue looming over the door. The illusion that its skin is actively sloughing off is so strong that you cringe in anticipation of being covered in putrid sheets and your body balks at taking a step under the shadow of this terrible being. Then dual screams split the chamber and you know the Twins are about to enter. The threat of them outweighs the horror of the statue and energy rushes back into your limbs. You shoulder the door open and sprint through. As it closes, the screams and curses of the Twins echo in the halls behind you. “We will find you and your brethren,” they shout in unison. “We are coming to quell the flames of your fire!” [[Turn to 60.->60]] { (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'Stop') }

##What Happens Next? This is where we leave your character, at the edge of death on the road to Dalobu, her lips still carrying the fateful message. Will you deliver the warning? Were your efforts in vain? This is not the end of the story. "Shadow Over Fire" has been a prelude to a new adventure featuring a fascinating new character in the world of Magnamund. Criminals spit her name like a curse. Veterans speak it before battle to bring them luck. Courtiers are told of secret places they can leave a list of their rivals and, if they are deemed worthy, she will come for their enemies in the night. Old sages whisper, to find that which is lost — you need only seek (text-colour:yellow)[The Huntress]. * Step into the boots of the mercenary known as “The Huntress” as she searches for the truth of her past, a past she has forgotten, and one which connects to the events and characters of this story! * Play with advanced versions of the rules from this game, with detailed combats, many abilties and special items, and lots of strategic choices! * Adventure in never-before-explored Magnamund locations, starting with the magical city of Toran and going as far as the Dessi Trench! * Pick your abilities from twelve new Hunting Arts, including thieving skills, alchemy, and the ability to use a Borese Handcannon! * Experience an adventure where your choices matter, determining the outcome of a story with multiple endings and many secrets to uncover! (link:"Click here")[(gotourl:"https://shop-magnamund.com/collections/the-huntress")] to begin your new adventures in book one of //The Huntress Trilogy//, entitled //Marked for Death//. {<img class="illustration" src="Images/Huntress.png">}

##49 With the last moment afforded you, you pull the (text-colour:green)[Signet Ring] from your pocket and hold it up. The merchants stop their attack, hands frozen mid-strike, masks turned to stare at the golden ring with its symbol of talons and wheat. “What are you doing?” comes the lisping voice of one of the Twins, the words frothing with anger. “Finish her!” No response comes from the merchants. Then you hear a soft voice coming from the woman sitting on your chest, forcing its way past the tube. "My husband's ring," she whispers. "Did you give him peace?" You nod, unable to speak. A single tear falls from one of the dark holes marking the deer mask's eyes. Then the woman leaps off of you and, together with the others, rushes the Twins. The sight of the ring has brought the merchant's family back to themselves, if only for moments. The Twins react with an unbridled rage of the sort that can only be mustered by affronted dictators, unaccustomed to revolution. They draw long knives from their cloaks and begin slashing madly at the merchants, sending hot blood spraying across the chamber. Recognizing the sacrifice that the merchants are making so that you can escape, you waste no time in fleeing the chamber, silently promising to avenge them with the full wrath of the Watchful Flame. [[Turn to 24.->24]] { (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'Stop') }

##55 It is all you can do to retrieve your rope and force your march to halt long enough to tie one end around a tree trunk. All the while, your legs twitch and your feet inch forward while perspiration pours from your body with the effort. Finally you can do no more and lose control just as you tie the other end of the rope around your waist. Then the hum takes over completely and for a time you are lost in a sea of static noise, unaware of your surroundings or even your own body. The sensation ends with a sudden jolt. You are hanging suspended on your rope thirty feet over the edge of the canyon with no memory of walking off it, staring down at a drop that goes on another hundred feet. The moon does not illuminate the bottom of that drop but you feel certain that there are more of the creatures down there, waiting to feast on your broken body. You feel something probing at the edges of your mind, as if seeking you. You spot a ledge and a cave opening in the side of the canyon and swing yourself to it quickly, freeing yourself of your rope and ducking inside, hoping to escape before the things can renew their insidious call. Remove the (text-colour:green)[Rope] from your //Action Card.// Also, if you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch], you must light it now (erase it from your //Action Card//). [[Turn to 6.->6]]

##36 //No,// you tell the noise inside your head. //You do not command me. I am the fire brightened eye. I see you for what you are.// And you do see. As you focus your willpower the gloaming lifts from the hunched creature and you get to see what it truly is – a corpse, back broken and pulling itself along on twisted limbs, its dirt-caked robes clinging to it like a second skin. A creature ruined long ago by its own foolish delving into dark arts, now cursed to feed on the life of the few warm blooded creatures that wander into its domain. Once more the creature tries to exert its will over you, its hum growing louder. Pick a //Random Number//. If you have the (text-colour:green)[Chain of Ishir], add 2. If you have and wish to use the (text-colour:yellow)[Feat of Strength] (and have not done so already this adventure) then you can add 3. You can wait to make this decision until after you pick a number. * If your total is 4 or higher: With an audible snapping sound you break free of the psychic pull of the creature. As you do so a cry of anguish reverberates inside your skull, each echo feeling like a hammer against your brain. Lose an amount of ENDURANCE equal to (text-colour:blue)[10 minus the number picked (not total)]. Then you waste no time in fleeing this area, rushing back into the valley. [[Turn to 27.->27]] * If your total is 0-3: [[turn to 83.->83]] { $RandNum }

##2 Lessons beaten into you by relentless repetition and the expert instruction of Nessa now come to bear as you pull free your weapon and throw it. Though it is but a shadow among the trees, your aim is true and the thing squeals like a stuck pig as your attack strikes home. The humming stops instantly and shadow flees into the trees. Freed from its spell, you waste no time in retreating in the opposite direction, back into the valley. Whatever item you threw, it is stuck in the creature and disappeared along with it. Erase it ((text-colour:green)[Short Sword, or Dagger]) from your //Action Card.// If you erased your (text-colour:green)[Dagger], then you have lost your only melee weapon. From now on pick two numbers whenever you determine combat results and use the worse result. Note this on your //Action Card.// [[Turn to 27.->27]]

Fantasy Loop: ./Audio/Fantasy Loop.mp3 Battle: ./Audio/Battle.mp3 Tomb:./Audio/Tomb.mp3 Finale: ./Audio/Finale.mp3 Trauma: ./Audio/Trauma.mp3 Horror: ./Audio/Horror.mp3 Evil: ./Audio/Evil.mp3 DL: ./Audio/Dark Loop.mp3

#Shadows Over Fire An adventure by Jonathan Stark set in the world of Magnamund created by Joe Dever All rights retained by Holmgard Press Version 3.1 Illustrations by Gary Ward The Waking Flame symbol designed by David Marr D10 and Skull by Dean Spencer (used with permission) Music by Alexander Nakarada (used with permission) ''If you are playing on a phone, please hold the phone sideways and use landscape mode for the best playing experience.'' [[Click here to continue.->Rules]] { (set: $RandNum to [<div id="portraitL"><img class="side-image" src="Images/Rand.png">[(link-repeat: "Click to Roll" )[(set: $result to (random: 0,9)) (print: $result)]]</div>]) (set: $Death to [<div id="portraitR">[[<img class="side-image" src="Images/Death.png">->Died]]</div>]) }

##61 Perseverance pays off in the third hour of your search when you find a scrap of folded paper, its unweathered state suggesting it was dropped after the last rains, which were only four days ago. That means it was dropped after the merchants were taken, or possibly during the event. Unfolding it you see a roughly drawn map of the Lod Mounds which lie to the west of the byway. It is a strange area to make a map of for no one lives there, with the closest inhabitants being those of a small village named Sfani on their western border. The map includes a note scrawled in a spidery hand in its upper left corner: //Two doses of the drug will make them docile. Bring them to the castle of the 14th star.// Reading the note again you feel certain that this is part of the answer of what happened to the merchants. Someone drugged and took them into the Lod Mounds. The rest of your answer must lie there and you decide to head that direction without delay. You may keep this ominous (text-colour:green)[Map] if you wish, mark it on your //Action Card//, and you may also wish to remember or write down its odd note. Then make a decision of how to approach the Mounds. You can take the shorter route by cutting through the thick jungle, [[turn to 29.->29]] Or you can take the longer way around the thick jungle by continuing north along the highway then following a branch of the river Doi west. [[Turn to 57.->57]]

##65 In the second hour of your hunt you find something curious – trailsign, highlighted by snapped branches and crushed mushrooms and other ground cover. A bootprint half dried in mud completes the picture. A group of people went this way within the last few days, within the timeline of the attack. The path leads west and you follow it, plunging deeper into the jungle. The rest of the day you travel slowly west, stopping when nightfall makes the path indecipherable. Then you make a simple bed against a broad tree and let exhaustion pull you into sleep. [[Turn to 8.->8]]

##29 What paths exist in the jungle are made by animals and hunters and they meander, following the whims of grazing deer and truffle-seeking boar. You are often forced to cut your own way through thick vines and bushes and your arm soon aches from the meeting of your blade against the green. You are not sure how far you have traveled when twilight halts even your dark-sensitive eyes and you are forced to find a place to rest for the evening. You are well used to sleeping out of doors and soon find suitable protection, wrapping yourself in your blanket and settling down against a tree. However, try as you might, you cannot sleep. The night seems eerily quiet, absent of even the chitter of insects, lacking the music of any wind. Reciting quietly a motto of the Waking Flame, you settle in for a long night: //I am Kindling. I burn without breaking Our enemies feed my fire.// If you have a (text-colour:green)[Torch], you may light it to keep watch. If so, erase the Torch from your //Action Card// and [[turn to 84.->84]] Otherwise, [[turn to 8.->8]]

##57 It takes you the rest of the day to hike the long road and then follow the thin branch of the river out to the west. During this journey you will become hungry, and you don't have time to forage enough to appease it. If you do not have a (text-colour:green)[Meal] or do not wish to eat it, then (text-colour:blue)[lose 3 ENDURANCE.] Erase the Meal if you use it. You hike well into the night until exhaustion forces you to stop. You make a simple pillow out of your backpack and lay down in a clearing, staring up at the darkening sky, listening to the sounds of the river and the songs of insects. The first of the autumn breezes pushes past the palms and jungle growth to run cool fingers down your body. It feels incredible after your long hike. It does not take you long to fall into a peaceful sleep. [[Turn to 22.->22]]

##63 You call to the hunter to wait and he does so. His quizzical expression changes to one of shock when you pull down the sleeve of your tunic and reveal the brand. With both hands he makes a gesture, a triangle around his left eye. The sign is quickly dropped, turned awkwardly into a movement of brushing off the knees of his trousers. Some of the small folk of Dessi still know and respect the Order. Fortunately for you, you’ve come across one of these people. “As I said, a merchant caravan was attacked near here,” you explain. “Only the people disappeared. I’ve come looking for why.” “I told ya, it's the evil what's taken over the Lod Mounds,” the man says. “More than that, I cannot say. The old spirits have long stopped watching over it, their shrines overgrown and forgotten. All's left are shadows.” He reaches under his collar and pulls out a simple necklace, a symbol of Ishir, Goddess of Good, High Priestess of the Moon, which he presses into your hands. On it is also carved the runic symbol for “33,” a number that has superstitious importance to some homesteaders of this land. Then without another word he leaves. You watch him go, observing that here was a man, taller and stronger than most, made so afraid by whatever it is you are seeking as to not be able to even speak of it. Add the (text-colour:green)[Chain of Ishir] to your //Action Card// and make note of the number 33 next to it. [[Turn to 57.->57]]

##75 Stepping out into the clearing is a giant of a man, with shocking red hair and a beard to match. He wears the garb of a trapper, and is fitting an arrow to a massive longbow, an arrow that matches the one he just fired into the meat of your leg. He raises the bow without bothering to push the long strands of his hair out of his eyes – eyes that are completely black, without any pupils. Your thoughts turn to the diseased body of the merchant which you left in the woods and to the words of the Twins: //These animals have been exposed to a horrible infection, I’m afraid. No telling what’s been let free in the world now that one escaped.// Terror at the thought of what you may have unwittingly helped release into the world, as well as a renewed conviction to reach your Order and put a stop to the Twins’ plans, drives you past the pain and back to your feet. You half-run and half-stumble from the clearing, all the while anticipating the bite of another arrow. [[Turn to 80.->80]]

##4 Stepping out into the clearing is a huge man with bright red hair and beard, wearing the garb of a trapper. You instantly recognize the kindly – if frightened – man you met the other day while hunting for clues along the highway. If only then you had known what terrors awaited you in the Lod Mounds. You are about to call out for aid when you see the man’s eyes. Before, they were a rich chestnut color. Now, they are completely black without any pupils, like a doll’s eye. A chill shakes your body as you recall the words of the Twins: //These animals have been exposed to a horrible infection, I’m afraid. No telling what’s been let free in the world now that one escaped.// Your former acquaintance lifts his hands, fitting an arrow to a massive longbow – an arrow that matches the one he just fired into the meat of your leg. With a cry of pain, you force yourself to your feet and continue running, every step feeling as though it is tearing not only your leg but also your sanity apart. [[Turn to 80.->80]]

##66 Lightning illuminates your opponent, his bared teeth and eyes that have no pupils: only pools of inky darkness. If you have a (text-colour:green)[Shortbow] and wish to draw it, [[turn to 25.->25]] Otherwise, you draw a melee weapon and enter combat using the table below. ''Possessed Man: ENDURANCE 12'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-2</td> <td>3</td> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3-5</td> <td>2</td> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6-8</td> <td>1</td> <td>6</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9-0</td> <td>0</td> <td>12</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td>Note: If you (text-colour:yellow)[lit a torch] earlier, then it is still smoldering, and the man seems to fear its embers and light. Lose one less ENDURANCE any time you take damage in this combat.</td> </tr> </table> If you defeat your opponent, [[turn to 18.->18]] { $RandNum $Death }

##71 The man studies you for a moment, clearly debating whether you can be trusted. Eventually he makes up his mind, reslinging his axe. “In all the time I’ve known him, Merka had a nose for sniffing out rare antiquities and a knack for finding buyers for them. And I think it finally got him and his family into trouble. They had dealings with… well, I can show you. Follow me – my name is Grimshaw, for what it’s worth.” You give your name and fall into step behind Grimshaw. [[Turn to 32.->32]]

##7 “There were signs of a mighty struggle, looked like they’d been attacked by jungle predators. I set off at once. It was not hard to see they’d been dragged into the jungle but after that things got harder,” the man explains. “It was like tracking the wind, but several days later and it led me here. Same trail you probably followed, right? You look like you know your way around trail sign.” You give a noncommittal shrug. The man reslings his axe. “My name is Grimshaw. I think we can help each other. Come, I need to show you something.” [[Turn to 32.->32]]

##69 Backing up, you get a running start at the hole and jump, the flame of the torch blowing backwards as you clear the hole. Hardly have you landed when the floor shifts down underneath your weight and you hear a loud click. You have set off a trap! Do you wish to dodge to one side? [[Turn to 13.->13]] Do you roll forward? [[Turn to 73.->73]]

##54 Pushing past a feeling of revulsion, you find grips in the eyes and nose sockets of the various skulls, using them to aid your descent into the hole. You are forced to leave your torch behind but you are not left in darkness for long. Green fires ignite in the eye sockets and open mouths of your handholds, casting a sickly light upon your face. You begin to hear the whispers again, only now they are all around you. They rise in pitch and insistence, worming their way into your brain until red dots begin to appear in front of your eyes and your chest becomes constricted. You shut your eyes and struggle to hang on, aware that you are being subjected to a vicious psychic attack. Pick a //Random Number//. If you have the (text-colour:green)[Chain of Ishir], pick two numbers and use the higher result. If your name is (text-colour:yellow)[Tetha], add 1 to the number. If you have (text-colour:green)[Rope], add 1. * 0: You are unable to hang on and lose your grip, falling in stunned silence to your death. * 1-4: (text-colour:blue)[Lose 4 ENDURANCE.] * 5 or higher: (text-colour:blue)[Lose 2 ENDURANCE.] If you are still alive after this then you realize the voices have all gone silent. You are in another tunnel with the hole open above you, though you do not recall when your climb ended. No skulls line the walls here. Instead a red glow comes out from beyond the bent and splintered wood of an old door just ahead of you. You grip the wide iron ring handle and pull it open. [[Turn to 35.->35]] { $Death $RandNum }

##13 You throw yourself sideways, pressing against the tunnel wall. A moment later, several hundred tons of rock collapse on top of you. The flame of your life is snuffed out as swiftly as that of your torch. A collapse of broken stone marks your grave, though none shall ever find it. Your mission ends here, in failure. { $Death }

##73 You roll forward just in time to avoid the ceiling – several hundred tons of rock and debris – crashing down atop you. Your torch’s light has finally gone out but the darkness does not last long. A red glow forms ahead of you and you see the outline of a wooden door. Though it seems too fortuitous to be trusted, you nonetheless gather yourself and approach the door, pushing it open with the tip of your weapon. [[Turn to 35.->35]]

##70 Ignoring your burning hands – for when has fire ever hurt the flame? – you throw everything you have into tipping the cauldron. The Twins do not realize your intentions until it is too late. The weight of the cauldron rips the tubes from the mouths of the merchants and they collapse to the floor, dead, released from their torment. The stone vat cracks and putrescent liquid disgorges from it in a wave across the floor. In the moment before the liquid douses the fire in a cloud of blood-colored steam, you see the hairless faces of the two brothers looming out of the dark, hands raising cruel daggers. Power emanates from them. You cannot defeat them here, in their inner sanctum. You flee the chamber. [[Turn to 24.->24]]

##64 Try as you might, the cauldron will not budge and eventually it is not the heat that makes you pull back but the horrific smell of rot and sulfur and the thickness of the haze, which maliciously burns and stings your eyes, even when squeezed shut. Wiping away tears, you spin around and prepare to face the merchants. [[Turn to 15.->15]]

The scalpel comes down, the point jamming into your left eye. Everything turns red and shock takes over as the blade punctures your eye and pierces your brain. Your life and quest end here. {$Death}

##67 “Brother, save me!” the twin with the lisp cries, as you force them back with a masterful feint and counterattack. He is up against one of the black walls and you position yourself to end him in one final stab. But then his brother snarls and throws the flame in his right hand at you. You leap aside but the flame turns in mid-air, following you. There is no chance to avoid it. A moment before it strikes, the wolf jumps at you, pushing you down and taking the blow meant for you. The magical flame roars and the wolf’s shining coat burns and blackens as the flames engulf it. //Go, little flame,// a voice says in your head. //I have opened the path for you.// As the voice says this, part of the wall nearest you dissolves into mist and beyond it you see a tunnel. The wolf, now completely engulfed by the magical fire, turns from you and rushes back towards the Twins, who receive it with their twisted daggers raised high. //Go!// the voice repeats, now a command. And you obey, rushing past the new opening, hearing the final, sorrowful howl of the wolf and over it the curses of the Twins: “We will find you and your brethren,” they shout in unison. “We are coming to quell the flames of your fire!” [[Turn to 60.->60]]

{<img class="illustration" src="Images/015.png">} ##80 “I shall know no pain but the pain of the flame,” you gasp, trying to burn away your pain with the words, yet there is little need to summon fire. It is already here. Fever is settling in over you, brought on by shock. You could not say for how long you run. When the trees end at last and you see the stony byway, you are so muddled that at first you think you have found a river and you fall down the embankment gratefully, hoping to douse yourself in its chill. But only the bite of the stones greets you, bloodying your chin where you strike them. There you lay, feeling the road warm underneath you with the heat of the sun. Despite the pounding of your heart and the pain in your leg, the day is peaceful. You can distinctly hear the songs of different birds, making harmony with each other. Then the music is broken by the clattering of approaching wheels. It draws you back to your senses as you raise your head and see a carriage drawing close. At first you think it an illusion, for it appears to be a duraba, one of the trading wagons of the Vassagonian people, essentially a small decorated home on wheels. It is a strange sight to see on the highway when the borders with that desert country are closed by war. But it continues to come closer and now you can see the driver, his sun-kissed skin and fine desert features, and hear him singing loud enough to drown out the birds: //Though my ship was lost with all her crew, And I cursed by fate and fortune, too, I set my hands to build another, And hunt the man who’d betrayed my mother.// The simple song brings tears to your eyes, not because it is well versed or well sung but because it is a sign of normal, happy people going about their lives without knowledge of the things that crawl in the dark places just under their noses. Nessa was right, there is a shadow over the fire. And if it goes out, all pleasant things may die with it. The fever is coming on again. Your thoughts are becoming confused. You push yourself to your feet, cry out against the pain, and then in the next breath call out for the duraba to halt. You limp for the wagon and its shocked driver, trying to keep your story straight in your head but all that comes, borne on a wave of fear, are the same words over and over: “Nessa must be told, the Twins have returned, the Order must be told.” The man leans back and knocks on the roof of the cabin, calling to whomever is inside to “Better come take a look at this.” The door to the carriage opens and someone steps out. [[Click here to continue...->Journey's End]]

##Wrong Number You do not have the correct item and so must continue exploring the valley. [[Turn to 58.->58]] { (Track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'Stop') }

##Wrong Number You do not have the correct item and so must continue down [[into the valley.->42]]

##You Have Died... ... but that doesn't have to be the end of your adventuring. If you'd like, you can try again from [[the first section->1]] or you can [[learn what comes next->Journey's End]]. The choice is yours. { (masteraudio: 'stopall') (track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'loop', true, 'volume', .6) (tracK: 'Fantasy Loop', 'play') }

##6 An uneven tunnel stretches out before you, carved out of hard dirt and supported by thick wooden beams, making you feel like you are in a mine. The ground is rocky and broken and you would have no hope of traversing it in the dark. The thinnest slice of moonlight falls inside the tunnel entrance. In the prior section, did you light a (text-colour:green)[Torch?] If so, [[turn to 50.->50]] If not, [[turn to 79.->79]] { (Track: 'Battle', 'Fadeout', 3) (Track: 'Trauma', 'Fadeout', 3) (Track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (Track: 'Evil', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Tomb', 'loop', true) (track: 'Tomb', 'Fadein', 2)}

##50 The torch drips glowing embers of ash as you move it back and forth to highlight your passage. After 200 yards you come to a junction. The corridor continues on into darkness but also there is an opening to your left. It leads to a vast emptiness, into which descends an uneven spiraling stairway without a railing. A soft wind tugs at your cloak, as though beckoning you forward onto the stairs, though you are hesitant to oblige. A grinding begins as unexpectedly a stone wall begins to close over the portal. If you are going to take this path, you must decide now. If you take the abyssal stairway, [[turn to 76.->76]] If you prefer to continue on your path, [[turn to 40.->40]]

##79 Ahead out of the tunnel comes a low grinding, like stone cracking or the growl of a terrible beast that has nursed its hunger for an aeon. You pause, steeling yourself to blindly traverse the blackness ahead. Then you see, by the thin light afforded you, an ancient torch hanging in a sconce along one wall. You grab it, though your hopes that it will light are slim. The oil has long dried, it is true, but the twine wrapped around its top is drier still and after diligently working at it for a bit with your flint and tinder it catches. To your surprise, it flares up brightly, burning unnaturally hot in a way that suggests there is possibly magic at work here, maybe an undetectable alchemical compound. The light shows no immediate danger and so you progress forward, caution slowing every step. [[Turn to 40.->40]]

##76 As the wall closes, you take your first tentative step onto the stairway, half expecting the stair to be a trap, dropping you into the endless dark. But the stone holds and so you proceed cautiously, testing every step before you plant your foot. Your journey down is the most harrowing experience you’ve ever had, more trying than any combat. The world reduces to the few feet in front of you and your future becomes the torch’s future: every time it sputters and grows dimmer, you feel your end drawing closer. All the while, the wind tugs at you, with the sweet promise of relief if you would just step a foot to one side. This trek is extremely sapping to your spirit. Pick three //Random Numbers.// After choosing, you can ignore one if you are able and willing to use your (text-colour:green)[Feat of Strength or Foresight]. You may use a healing item if you have one prior to choosing your numbers. If the total is less than or equal to your current ENDURANCE, then [[turn to 81.->81]] If the total is higher than your current ENDURANCE, then the demands on your sanity are too much and you step off into oblivion. Your life and quest end here. { $Death $RandNum }

##81 Just before the torch’s light finally dies away, you see an opening leading away from the stair, which continues to spiral down endlessly. You step inside just to get away from the pit for a moment and in doing so lean against a hidden lever in the rock. The wall is a secret door; it turns and deposits you inside a new chamber. [[Turn to 35.->35]]

##82 Gray and green liquid, thick as cooked oats and tinged with the frothy pink of blood, oozes and sprays from the mouths of the three merchants, the tubes having been wrenched free by your combat. They twitch and then, with sighs of something like relief, they are still. Through the red smoke vials are thrown, breaking around you and releasing noxious gasses. The Twins emerge, their legs lost in the smog so that they seem hideous phantoms floating towards you on a wave of malice and hatred. Exhausted from your battle against the merchants, sickened by their poisons, you know that you must retreat. [[Turn to 24.->24]]

##83 The hum grows louder and louder until all your perception of the world vanishes. It is with only the vaguest awareness that you watch yourself move towards the edge of the canyon and throw yourself from it, falling to your doom more than a hundred feet below. Your quest ends here but your life does not for soon you rise from the grave to join your murderer in his eternal curse, always hungry for the flesh of the living. { $Death }

V1.0: sent to Ben 02/11 V1.1 considerations: change H2 to something different, a little bigger (maybe 1.2?)

##84 You do not sleep and so you watch as the skies still and turn heavy with the threat of rain. Your torch burns low and your eyes become a pantomime of the half-lidded brand on your arm – but they do not close. You remain vigilant. Even so, you hear the noise before you see anything. By now your torch is just embers and so there is not a way to see what is making the snuffling and growling sound as it comes clumsily through the brush. You get into a crouch, weapon drawn, and wait, expecting a boar or a hungry stray dog. Maybe at worse, you think, it is a bear. Then the snuffling is replaced by a heart-stopping scream and a man leaps into the diminishing light of your torch, arms askew, mouth wide and frothing. You dodge out of the way, grabbing your torch in one hand – the embers can still burn if thrust into skin or face – and wielding your blade in the other. [[Turn to 66.->66]] { (unless: (track: 'Battle', 'isplaying'))[ (track: 'Fantasy Loop', 'fadeout', 3) (track: 'Battle', 'loop', true) (track: 'Battle', 'fadein', 1)] }

##85 You lower the rope down into the hole, standing at its edge. The crying stops and you feel a tug at the end of your rope. “Climb up,” you are about to say but the words catch in your throat as the rope is suddenly ripped from your hands with violent force and the darkness leaps up at you, becoming a horrible segmented body with eight grasping limbs. Red eyes glow above clicking mandibles and past the mandibles comes a horrible human-like sobbing and cry for help: the same cry you heard from the boy. Then the cry turns into gleeful deep laughter as the huge spider strikes, getting on top of you and pinning you with its immense weight. Remove the Rope from your Action Card. You are in combat with a mutant arachnid and only have time to draw a single weapon, which you stab desperately into the creature’s flanks. Hunger and the close smell of your flesh keeps it from retreating: it is determined to quiet you with poison before you can kill it. ''Gray Hyena Spider: ENDURANCE 20'' <table> <tr> <th>Number Picked</th> <th>You lose...</th> <th>Enemy loses...</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1-4</td> <td>3 //(Poison)//</td> <td>5</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5-9</td> <td>2 //(Poison)//</td> <td>7</td> </tr> <tr> <td>0</td> <td>0</td> <td>10</td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td>Ashen Poison: Mark Poison on your Action Card. If ever you mark your fourth Poison, you instantly die.</td> </tr> </table> If you win this combat, [[turn to 74.->74]] { $RandNum $Death (Track: 'DL', 'Fadeout', 3) (track: 'Trauma', 'loop', true) (track: 'Trauma', 'fadein', 3) }

##86 Stepping out into the clearing is a giant of a man, with shocking red hair and a beard to match. He wears the garb of a trapper, and is fitting an arrow to a massive longbow, an arrow that matches the one he just fired into the meat of your leg. He raises the bow without bothering to push the long strands of his hair out of his eyes – eyes that are completely black, without any pupils. [[Turn to 80.->80]]