Let's Play Lone Wolf: Book 29 and beyond!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Let's Play Lone Wolf: Book 29 and beyond!

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Leraika: Jun 14, 2015; Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

Goin' to the forest, where we're not gonna get mu-uuu-urdered

# ? Feb 8, 2018 18:39

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 06:11

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

Mikl posted:

I bet the forest is lovely this time of the year.

ShadowWraith posted:

I also suggest using the Potion of Alether for any fight where we're at a -7 or worse disadvantage.

Unless anyone objects, I'll make that the rule.

The Jungle of Horrors posted:

You and Paido wheel your horses around and follow the crest of the ridge. Expertly, you manage to steer them down a steep bank of loose shale, and then on at a brisk pace along a dried-out gully. Soon the gully becomes a stream of sparkling water, fed by an underground spring. A rumble, like the sound of a distant storm, warns you that the vast army of Zegron, Warchief of Ogia, is now less than twenty miles away.

Healing: +1 EP (33/37).

You follow the stream until it enters a long corridor of towering trees that descend towards the bank of a swift-flowing brook, a tributary of the River Syad. You stop here briefly to bathe your faces in the icy water and to stare at the mass of blue-green giant trees that fill the western horizon.

�The Mordril Forest,� says Paido, a note of trepidation in his voice. �It was once a wondrous forest, a place of light and goodness. The trees grew strong and the birds and beasts were the fairest of any forest breed. But the Mordril has grown dark and dismal of late. The Danarg encroaches, feeding its sickness to the soil and poisoning the saplings and the creatures that dwell there still. It is a doomed forest, doomed to become part of the Danarg swamp.�

You remount your horse and cross the brook. As you climb the opposite bank you notice a set of freshly made tracks in the soft earth.

Healing: +1 EP (34/37).

At first you think that the tracks are those of a black bear, the paw prints being of a similar size and depth. But a closer examination changes your mind. These prints were left by a biped, a two-footed animal that walks upright. You have never before come across tracks like these, and judging from the size of the prints, you would be happier to avoid the creature that made them.

Healing: +1 EP (35/37).

You urge your horse up the steep bank and across the fallen branches that litter the trail beyond. Less than a mile from the brook you hear the sound of rushing water. The track bears north and you see a roaring waterfall cascading into a rocky pool, its surface lost in a cloud of fine spray. A huge tree has fallen across the pool, creating a bridge, and the track leads straight to it. You are halfway across the tree-bridge, looking down at the swirling spray and foaming water below, when a ghastly howl rings out above the thunder of the waterfall. You look up and stare slack-jawed at the creature that is advancing towards you across the tree-bridge.

Healing: +1 EP (36/37).

The creature gives a strange snickering cry as slowly it edges nearer and nearer. It is a huge, pear-shaped beast with a hunched back and a white lizard-like head. Awkwardly it shuffles upright, on two large hairy paws. At first glance it looks as if two totally separate creatures have been joined together at the waist: the lower half is covered with a coarse, spiky fur, and the upper body is pale and hairless, heavily veined, with long sinewy forearms. It raises its snout to savour the smell of your frightened horse and opens its fanged jaws.

Healing: +1 EP (37/37).

Shall we shoot it with an arrow, or fight it with our sword?

# ? Feb 9, 2018 01:17

Jackard: Oct 28, 2007; We Have A Bow And We Wish To Use It

<--

# ? Feb 9, 2018 01:25

Broken Box: Jan 29, 2009

Bowtime!

# ? Feb 9, 2018 01:36

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

# ? Feb 9, 2018 01:42

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Ack, a mutant owlbear! Shoot an arrow!

# ? Feb 9, 2018 01:47

anakha: Sep 16, 2009

We Have a Bow and We loving Wish to Use It.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 02:31

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

Finally caught up with the thread, wish I stumbled upon it sooner.

quote:

It raises its snout to savour the smell of your frightened horse and opens its fanged jaws.

Shoot it in its open mouth.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 04:57

Helios Grime: Jan 27, 2012; Where we are going we won't need shirts; Pillbug

We haven't used that bow in a long time.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 07:16

The_White_Crane: May 10, 2008

We Have A Bow And We Wish To Use It.

This should probably be a smiley.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 12:33

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

The Jungle of Horrors posted:

Your horse is panic-stricken; the tree-bridge is too narrow for it to turn around, and Paido�s mount is so close behind that you are unable to back up without risk of sending them both over the edge.

We roll: 8 + 3 (Weaponmastery) + 3 (Silver Bow) = 14.

Your Arrow enters the creature�s mouth, transfixing its tongue to the back of its throat. It gurgles and chomps on the feathered shaft, its clawed fingers scrabbling to pull it free. In its frenzy it loses its footing and slips, throwing open its arms instinctively to steady itself. Its claws ensnare your horse�s bridle and, as it topples from the tree-bridge, it pulls your horse and you over the edge.

We roll: 8 + 2 (Huntmastery) = 10.

You leap from the saddle, narrowly avoiding being pulled off the tree-bridge. Your horse and the hideous creature both disappear from view, quickly swallowed up by the spray from the waterfall. As you land on the slippery wet wood, Paido�s horse rears up on its hind legs, its forelegs kicking the air and its eyes rolling madly. He fights to control the animal but it is wild with fear and, with a crack of splintering wood, its hind hoof shears through a rotten branch; it totters on the brink. Paido swings his legs clear and abandons his doomed horse barely seconds before it falls into the watery abyss.

For a few minutes you stare silently at the pool below. Nothing stirs in the seething waters to record the loss of your horses or the passing of the dreadful Anapheg. All three have disappeared without trace.

The distant thunder of battle pervades your thoughts, prompting you to leave the tree-bridge and move deeper into the Mordril Forest. The tall trees become denser, often forcing you to turn your body sideways in order to make any progress. Gradually dense undergrowth turns to a carpet of moss and blue-black lichen which clings to your boots like mud. A chill overwhelms you as a thick and pearly mist seeps from the cracks beneath the trees. The many sounds of the forest have disappeared to be replaced by a cold and eerie silence.

Twilight is approaching. As the sky above darkens, a black bird flies among the upper branches, emitting a shrill cry, which sounds unnaturally loud in the silent forest. It settles, stares at you for a few minutes, and then flaps away. A little later you stumble upon a clearing. Shafts of ghostly moonlight pour through a gap in the black canopy of leaves, revealing a mound of earth, rising out of the forest mist. You are both exhausted after the day�s events and agree to stop here to rest. Paido takes a Gold Crown from his pocket and tosses it in the air to decide who should take the first watch. �Heads or tails?� he asks, the Crown clenched in his fist.

Heads or tails?

If we didn't have Huntmastery and rolled a 0 or a 1 - dead. Obviously we would have been OK with a roll of 8 though. 8 was also just high enough for our arrow to hit without our bonuses.

Also, there's a trigger here for a dead man walking scenario - the first we've encountered in quite a while - that started back at the inn where we spoke to that dwarf. If you choose to warm yourself by the fire, Paido (who is an idiot) gets out some food from his backpack. Since you're in a business that serves food and drink they're not too happy about you coming in and just eating your own food without spending any money and try to kick you out. If you fight, you can be injured and poisoned. If you don't have and fail to find any Oxydine or Oede then this is where you die.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 13:15

Mikl: Nov 8, 2009; Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!

Goddamnit Paido :cripes:

Tails.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 13:33

Helios Grime: Jan 27, 2012; Where we are going we won't need shirts; Pillbug

Heads

# ? Feb 9, 2018 14:01

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

Tails

# ? Feb 9, 2018 15:03

Kanthulhu: Apr 8, 2009; NO ONE SPOIL GAME OF THRONES FOR ME!

IF SOMEONE TELLS ME THAT OBERYN MARTELL AND THE MOUNTAIN DIE THIS SEASON, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.

BUT NOT HALF AS PISSED AS I'D BE IF SOMEONE WERE TO SPOIL VARYS KILLING A LANISTER!!!

(Dany shits in a field)

Heads

# ? Feb 9, 2018 15:03

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Why can't we have both?

(Answer: after you goony fuckers pick the wrong one we probably will.)

# ? Feb 9, 2018 16:40

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Tails.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 17:58

Guy Fawkes: Aug 1, 2014; Lvl 62, +5 meadow defense

I say Tails.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 20:55

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

I�d like to get first watch because I just don�t trust Paido to stay awake. Plus I�d rather my battlemage buddy not be too tired to aim straight. A fireball to the back is probably still painful even with Nexus.

# ? Feb 9, 2018 22:30

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

Guy Fawkes posted:

I say Tails.

Never fails.

The Jungle of Horrors posted:

Paido opens his palm to reveal the small gold coin: it shows heads. �Bad luck!� he exclaims with a grin. �You take the first watch.� He settles himself down on the mound of spongy earth and is soon asleep, snoring softly. You sit beside him, your eyes scouring the black spaces between the ghostly grey trees.

The first half of the night passes uneventfully. In need of rest, you are about to awaken Paido when you sense something moving in the shadows off to your right. Two tiny pinpoints of yellow light blink in the darkness. You draw your weapon, expecting an attack, but you can no longer see the eyes of the shadow creature. Paido wakes and takes over the watch, but the lingering feeling that you are being observed makes you uneasy and disturbs your rest (lose 2 ENDURANCE points). Four hours later, you wake to the gloomy grey of dawn and prepare to set off once more.

Endurance: 35/37.

Your sense of time slips away as you trek through the seemingly endless expanse of bleak grey trees. Slowly you become aware that you are on an incline, and as your passage becomes steeper, you notice large outcrops of pitted volcanic rock.

�We�re approaching the Danarg crater,� says Paido, his quietly spoken words echoing loudly through the eerie forest. Suddenly you recall the words of Lord Rimoah during your period of preparation in Elzian: �The Danarg occupies the crater of an ancient and massive volcano. Once it was a lush jungle of fertile vegetation, but now it is a cancerous wound that poisons all who dwell there � �

By noon you have climbed to the lip of the crater and begun your descent. Gradually the tall, straight trees of the Mordril Forest thin out giving way to twisted trunks and stunted saplings as the land sinks deeper and deeper. Imperceptibly the forest ends and the swamp begins. The ground is softer, and tall, black rushes appear in clumps around misty pools of stagnant water. From tortured husks of trees hang thorny vines, as tough and as cruel as sharpened steel wire. So thickly are they entwined around some trees that they have strangled them, leaving empty coils where the trunks have rotted away. The stench of decay fills your nostrils in the humid yet cold air.

You wade through ankle-deep slime for nearly an hour before reaching the edge of a huge, murky pool. Whirls and eddies disturb its surface, warning of the creatures that lurk below.

Healing: +1 EP (36/37).

Your improved Pathsmanship skill warns you that to the north a tribe of hungry swamp creatures are lurking at the edge of the pool in search of prey. You and Paido would provide an excellent meal for these beasts. To the south the track takes you away from the heart of the swamp, and consequently further away from your goal.

Healing: +1 EP (37/37).

North or south?

That's our "detect ambush" power, another loyalty check. Weirdly, the rules say it only works if our Endurance isn't too low but the actual check in the book doesn't care about your current Endurance level at all, and this is the book that introduces the ability; you'd think that it would at least be consistent within the one book.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 01:17

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

North! Our Kai Skills can handle a few swamp creatures.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 01:21

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

achtungnight posted:

North! Our Sommerswerd can handle a few swamp creatures.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 02:17

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

South. I�m not sure our Kai skills will save Paido and there have to be other paths, right?

# ? Feb 10, 2018 03:28

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

North, slay them all
And I'm really getting the sense that these books would be far, far harder without healing/curing.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 04:03

ulmont: Sep 15, 2010; IF I EVER MISS VOTING IN AN ELECTION (EVEN AMERICAN IDOL) ,OR HAVE UNPAID PARKING TICKETS, PLEASE TAKE AWAY MY FRANCHISE

Slavic Crime Yacht posted:

I'm really getting the sense that these books would be far, far harder without healing/curing.

Yeah, there's really no other discipline that has such great mechanical effects. Others let you avoid instant deaths or combats, which is nice, but healing/curing is such a great steady restoration.

Weapon mastery may be second best as another straight buff.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 04:07

Materant: Jul 22, 2010; see, what you don't understand is he now has

THE MANLIEST MUSTACHE

_{_{_{_{it defies physics}}}}

That dead man walking scenario that Tiggum mentioned? It's actually impossible to get into it without Curing and loyalty, if only because it just kills you outright instead. Korovax is apparently lethal as poo poo.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 04:09

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

Slavic Crime Yacht posted:

And I'm really getting the sense that these books would be far, far harder without healing/curing.

If you know what you're doing you can pretty reliably avoid taking damage in most books, but if you're not familiar with them then yeah, you're going to take damage and it can certainly add up. And if you're actually using them then healing potions run out pretty fast.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 04:13

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

I did the first 5 books taking healing late and weaponskill not at all. Weaponskill is kind of a trap anyway in the first 5 books as before you get the Sommerswerd there are several situations where you may not have your chosen weapon, and after you get it, it�s so powerful that you don�t need weaponskill. The Magnakai version is worth it for the bow and, because you get several weapons for it, it�s harder for it to be useless.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 04:32

Helios Grime: Jan 27, 2012; Where we are going we won't need shirts; Pillbug

Go North and ambush the ambusher. :kratos:

# ? Feb 10, 2018 10:46

ShadowWraith: Mar 28, 2011

May as well go North.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 12:33

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

nelson posted:

South. I�m not sure our Kai skills will save Paido and there have to be other paths, right?

It's a jungle-swamp. The fact that there are any paths at all is kind of a miracle.

The Jungle of Horrors posted:

A froth of green scum marks the edge of the pool, and you use it as a guide to avoid stepping too close to the water. On your left, the pools become more numerous until you find yourselves walking a narrow strip of mossy mounds flanked by dark water.

�By the gods!� grumbles Paido, slapping insects from his face. �How I wish for some good solid ground rather than this spongy muck!�

As if in answer to his request you see a spur of volcanic rock looming out of the mud ahead, forming a causeway above the pools of greasy water. You follow it and soon it splits in two: one spur disappears to the west, the other continues to the south.

Your Kai sense detects a pocket of marsh gas further along the south spur. Your Magnakai Discipline of Nexus would protect you from it, but Paido would be vulnerable to its harmful effects.

Do we keep going south anyway or turn west?

# ? Feb 10, 2018 12:49

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

West we want to go anyway.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 12:54

Mikl: Nov 8, 2009; Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!

Eh, poisoned once, poisoned twice, same difference. South.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 12:58

Helios Grime: Jan 27, 2012; Where we are going we won't need shirts; Pillbug

Damnit Paido!
Go West

# ? Feb 10, 2018 13:07

ShadowWraith: Mar 28, 2011

Go West.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 13:08

Kanthulhu: Apr 8, 2009; NO ONE SPOIL GAME OF THRONES FOR ME!

IF SOMEONE TELLS ME THAT OBERYN MARTELL AND THE MOUNTAIN DIE THIS SEASON, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.

BUT NOT HALF AS PISSED AS I'D BE IF SOMEONE WERE TO SPOIL VARYS KILLING A LANISTER!!!

(Dany shits in a field)

West is best

# ? Feb 10, 2018 13:32

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Given how much of a burden Paido is to us, we should get him killed ASAP. South.

# ? Feb 10, 2018 13:47

nelson: Apr 12, 2009; College Slice

West

# ? Feb 10, 2018 15:33

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

Mikl posted:

Eh, poisoned once, poisoned twice, same difference. South.

Being poisoned a second time. That's the difference.

The Jungle of Horrors posted:

Less than a hundred yards along this jetty of volcanic rock, you encounter a cloud of choking marsh gas. A pair of green, spindly-limbed creatures sits on the causeway, dangling their legs over the side and sniffing the stinking cloud with apparent delight. When they see you approaching they hiss and bare their fangs menacingly.

Do we approach them, turn around and go west, or throw a Fireseed to scare them?

# ? Feb 11, 2018 01:00

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 06:11

achtungnight: Oct 5, 2014; I get my fun here. Enjoy!

Fireseed! Make marsh gas go boom!

# ? Feb 11, 2018 01:14

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