When last we left ourselves ... that sure sounds wrong. Let's go with "When last we left Lone Wolf", we had to decide whether or not to investigate some smoke rising from the woods before us. Mustering our Kai Discipline of Cajones, we chose to go on ahead rather than bravely running away. We'll see how that works out ...
Carefully parting the dense foliage, you are horrified by the sight that meets you. In a small clearing ahead, three Giaks have tied a man to a wooden stake and are setting fire to a mass of brushwood bundled at his feet. You recognize his tunic as that of a border ranger, one of the King's men who police the kingdom near the Durncrag mountains of the west. He has been badly beaten and is nearly unconscious.
Typical ranger. Ambushed in the woods and ready to serve as someone's dinner. Where's an Aragorn when you need one?!
Regardless, we do not have the Kai Discipline of Hunting because except for the spear and the mind blast we are anti-violence. That's too bad, because if we did have that Discipline, we might have been able to opt for a sneakier approach as well as turning to 297, which I've always wanted to visit. I hear it's lovely this time of year. Alas, lacking the skills of the stalker, we therefore "must attack the Giaks now in order to save the ranger's life. Turn to 336".
You rush into the clearing and take the Giaks completely by surprise. Without a moment's hesitation, you strike out at the one nearest to you. he is dead before his body hits the ground. The other Giaks unsheath their curved swords and attack you. You must fight them one at a time.
Giak 1: Combat Skill 14, Endurance 11.
Giak 2: Combat Skill 13, Endurance 11.
This is what we get for running towards danger instead of away from it. Stupid cajones. We have a base combat skill of 19, +2 for our Kai Discipline of Mind Blast, and another +2 for using a spear (acquired a few sessions ago) with our Kai Discipline of Weapon Skill. With that much extra mojo, if these guys were pigs we'd probably be able to use our Kai Discipline of Animal Kinship to convince the bastards to spit themselves for us. Maybe after this we can go to Kai-Mart and pick up some of that.
Before then, though, we have to dispose of a couple of Giaks. With a combat differential on Giak 1 of +9, and a random "roll" (actually a "close your eyes and point") of 9 as well, we fell the porcine pugilist with one mighty blow, taking no damage ourselves! Go us!
That leaves one dastardly foe to face, however. This time our combat differential is a +10, which frankly means we ought to be able to moon him to death. This time we only roll a 6, however, and while that results in 14 points of damage for our friend -- a kill -- we do take one point of damage ourselves, bringing us to 23. Jerk! He probably bled on us as we gutted him, Giaks are rude that way.
Having won, we free the ranger and head to scenic 117.
The man is badly injured and near to death. If you have the Kai Discipline of Healing [we do not, we decided to go for the Slacker Curriculum instead], you may ease the pain of his wounds but he has been so seriously hurt he is beyond repair by your skills alone. He soon lapses into unconsciousness. You try to make him as comfortable as possible beneath a large forest oak, before leaving and pressing on through the thick woodland towards the northeast. Turn to 330.
Cheap! We might as well have let them roast the fellow and saved ourselves the stains on our spiffy Kai Cloak of Cloaking. Ah well, a good deed seldom goes unrewarded. Eventually. Maybe. Just not, you know, now. On to 330!
Fatigued by your exertions, you stop to rest for a few minutes at a fallen tree. You notice a large bundle, beneath the trunk.
Haven't these people ever heard that you're not supposed to leave any packages or luggage unattended? No wonder the Giaks are taking over the place!
