[Gamebook] Blood Sword #1 - Game Has Started

[yawetag]

At work. Clearing some things up, then the game will begin!

[yawetag]

Character information has been sent to all. You are free to discuss your information, or you may keep it silent.

[yawetag]

For the whole day now you have been approaching the smoke columns rising up vertically hundreds of metres from the flat plains of Krarth. The sky above is blue, cloudless and cold. A bitter wind blows across the dry, sere grass of the marshes and sends sluggish ripples through the puddles of mire which occupy the low ground. The monotony of the landscape is broken only by the occasional stunted willow growing by the black, muddy pools and meres.

Kalugen's Keep is a monolithic black citadel looming ahead of you. Hoping to reach its gates before nightfall, you curse the throng of peasants and merchants milling towards the citadel - this morning just an imperceptible speck across the ebleak wastes, but now a monstrous edifice that seems to fill the horizon.

You know you have only until tomorrow to find a sponsor among the magi of Krarth, for tomorrow battle will be unleashed in the pits beneath the citadel. Fame and fortune will go to the Adventurers - and their sponsor - who return from the labyrinthine Battlepits with the Emblem of Victory. If you find no magus who is prepared to sponsor you this time, you will have to wait another long year for the next contest. A year through which the marsh waters will rise, drowning the land and the causeways leading to the citadel, rendering Kalugen's Keep impregnable. No one enters or leaves in that time exceot the magi on their flying carpets, and only in mid-year can the citizens emerge to sow their fields with corn and rice before the harsh winter months begin again.

At last you manage to break through the gabbling crowds of the baggage train and ride under the grey blocks of the massive gate, its portcullis open like the maw of a hungry god. The dour streets are festooned with the flags of the magi - the one week of the year when this grim place is ablaze with colour, you reflect wryly - and street criers call out the glories of their lords. In the central square you see a booth where the magi's stewards are registering the combatants whom their masters have employed for tomorrow's contest. Each hero, or group of heroes, must take their sponsor's pennant with them into the Battlepits, but as you scan the racks outside the booth you see that only three pennants remain. Three stewards stand by the pennants. Three magi seek champions.

The stewards grin sourly as they see you eyeing the pennants. Over the years they must have engaged dozens of brave Adventurers on their respective masters' behalf - and how many of those Adventurers went down into the Battlepits never to emerge? You scowl back at the grimly, but they only smile the broader. They know you must choose one of the pennants. As you debate the choice, an old merchant wrapped in greasy furs and obviously the worse for drink sees you contemplating the booth.

What do you do?

1. Ignore the drunken merchant and go over to the booth.
   
   
2. Talk to the merchant.
   
   
3. Have the Trickster try something.
   
   
4. Have the Sage try something.
   
   
5. Have the Enchanter try something.

You have until

January 11 at 12:20am Central (-0600)

to decide as a group. Remember, only the Warrior can make the final decision.

[Cybele]

I suppose I'd be fine if you wanted me to handle it, but it is my personal opinion that we speak with the foul-smelling merchant.

[Lowell]

I suppose I'd be fine if you wanted me to handle it, but it is my personal opinion that we speak with the foul-smelling merchant.

Obviously.

[bird1111]

I agree with Cybele.

[chenhsi]

I agree.

Should I ready a couple of defensive/offensive spells in case of an attack?

[yawetag]

The consensus is to

Talk to the merchant.

[yawetag]

He lurches from side to side, struggling to focus on you. Giving vent to an enormous belch, he says, "Lookin' for employ with a magus, you'll be, I don' wonder. There's three still wantin' champions fer the contest - that's their pennants over by that booth ...

"Magus Vyl is the worst o' the lot, but then 'h's a vampire an' I shouldn't speak ill o' the dead. Kalugen - lord o' this city, as you'll know - well, 'e ain't much better, an' he's not in the contest to win, I've 'eard. But the third - Magus Balhazar - is the best of a bad bunch, 'cause 'e's got most to lose in the contest, an' 'e'll be rewardin' 'is champions the best on account o' that."

Any hopes you might have of questioning the merchant further are soon dashed. Exhausted by the effort of speaking, he favours you with a broad grin and then falls like a plank on the cobblestones. A boot in the ribs does nothing to rouse him from his drunken stupor, so you decide to approach the booth.

You saunter up to the booth. The three pennants flutter forlornly in the evening breeze. You return the cold stares of the magi's stewards with a scowl.

What do you do?

1. Take the olive-green pennant.
   
   
2. Take the scarlet pennant
   
   
3. Select the Black and purple pennant
   
   
4. Try talking to the stewards first

You have until

January 15 at 4:20am

to decide as a group. Remember, only

bird1111

can make the final decision.

[Cybele]

Let us talk to the stewards and find out which penant belongs to Balhazar.

[bird1111]

4

Talk to the stewards to find out which penant belongs to Balhazar.

[chenhsi]

Yeah, that.

[Lowell]

Can I trade all my weapons for oratory shoes?

[yawetag]

They shrug and exchange amused glaces. 'Regrettably we can offer nothing in the way of advice,' says one, spreading his hands. 'It would be against the terms of the contest, and in any case we lowly servants are unworthy to criticise and compare the magi of Krarth! You understand, I am sure...' He smirks openly and indicates the three pennants. 'Perhaps the Fates will guide your choice.'

What do you do?

1. Have the Warrior teach this churl a lesson.
   
   
2. Select the green pennant.
   
   
3. Select the scarlet pennant.
   
   
4. Select the black and purple pennant.

[yawetag]

Can I trade all my weapons for oratory shoes?

No.

[bird1111]

I'm not willing to do option 1.

[Cybele]

Damn. I guess we should just try a pennant at random.
How about the green pennant?

[Lowell]

GREEN! GREEN! GREEN!

or whatever.

[chenhsi]

I like red though. Fire and all that.
Or Black/Purple, which sounds necromanticy.

Green sounds boring.

[Cybele]

The vampire was the worst of the three, apparently. I'm against the purple/black pennant on that assumption.

[bird1111]

I'm guessing its my choice again?

If so,

2-Take the Green Pennant

since none of us seems to have much of a clue.

[yawetag]

You lift the olive-green pennant. 'You have chosen the standard of Magus Kalugen, overlord of this city,' declares Kalugen's steward grandly. 'I am to escort you to his palace, the House of Fivefold Torments. There you w ill be received with the honour due to you.' As he speaks, a number of soldiers draw up around you and you find that they are leading you off through the winding dark alleyways of the city. The jostling crowds miraculously melt away when they see the olive-green livery of the soldiers, and you soon find yourself walking through the main gate of Kalugen's palace, a massive, fire-blackened mansion-house with heavily barred windows and a high ordure-stained tower rising in one of its corners. The great gate of the mansion is swung shut behind you and you find yourself in a courtyard crowded with a group of raggedly dressed people waiting in line, clutching the petitions they hope to present to Kalugen. You are ushered through this mob into a dark hall whole ceiling is lost in the sooty gloom. You are led to the far end of it, where you c an dimly make out a seated figure on a throne. You instinctively recognise him as Kalugen.

Kalugen sits upon his throne wearing elaborate robes of olive-green satin-silk bordered in gold. Emeralds hang from his ears and fingers like dewdrops. He has a small, cruel, thick-lipped mouth. "Let us speak frankly," he says in a cold voice. "I am not much interested in the contest tomorrow. I have made arrangements with several other magi and thus gained numerous concessions. I do not

need

to win tomorrow, so I have decided to have a little sport..." Suddenly he sits bolt upright and claps his hands down on the arms of the throne. "Let's have a game! I like playing games. What do you want to play? How about Old Man of the Mountain? Or there's Prey's Roosters, but that's not really as much fun..."

What do you do?

1. Suggest playing Old Man of the Mountain
   
   
2. Ask to play Prey's Roosters

You have until

January 17 at 2:30am Central (-0600)

to decide as a group. Remember, only the Warrior (bird1111) can make the final decision.

[Cybele]

Meh. I like games. Old man at the mountain sounds fun.

[bird1111]

I think the question here is would we find his idea of fun as fun for us?

Anyone have any idea?

[bird1111]

I think the question here is, would we find his idea of fun as fun for us? As he says he doesn't find Prey Roosters nearly as much fun, so if we want to avoid his idea of fun, we should pick that; while if we do think what we consider fun is what he considers fun, we should pick Old Man of The Mountain.