Category Archives: RPG Corner

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!

Having exercised our Kai Discipline of Running Away, we have bravely decided to flee the obnoxious bird and leave our former path in the forest.

For half an hour o rmore you press on through the forest, through the rich vegetation and ferns. You happen upon a small clear stream where you stop for a few minutes to wash your face and drink of the cold, fresh water.

Feeling revitalized, you cross the stream and press on. You soon notice the smell of woodsmoke which seems to be drifting towards you from the north.

I bet I know how this is going to go. After all, smoke can make you all itchy.

When last we left our intrepid Lone Wolf, we were deciding whether or not to avoid a thicket of Sleeptooth. Continuing our unparalleled history of conflict avoidance, we chose to shy away from stabbity things and instead returned to the path. Thus:

Keeping a watchful eye on the sky above, you move quickly along the track. you recall that this route leads to Fogwood, a small cluster of huts that have been used by a family of charcoal burners for nearly fifty years. After twenty minutes you reach the edge of a clearing where the huts are grouped in a small circle. There is no sign of the usual mist of wood-smoke which gives Fogwood its apt name, and the huts are unusually quiet.

If we had the Kai Discipline of Tracking, we could turn to 134 and the untold glories that lie there. Sadly, we skipped Kai School that day to go picking daisies and thus do not have the ability to Track. Thus you "prepare your weapon and stealthily approach the huts", turning to 305.

Through the open doorway of the first hut, you can see the body of a charcoal burner lying face down on the rough stone floor. He has been murdered, stabbed in the back by a spear. All his furniture and belongings have been smashed and broken and not one piece remains intact.

This is the evil handiwork of Giaks without any doubt, for they delight in the destruction of all things. A quick check of the other huts reveals a similar story of murder and wreckage. In the last hut that you search, you discover a Giak Spear -- proof of your suspicions. You may keep this Weapon if you wish.

More determined than ever now to succeed in your mission, you continue along the track.

Turn to 105.

Wahoo, Spear! We have the Kai Discipline "Weaponskill: Spear" so we now get to add 2 to our Combat Skill when using this weapon. With our Mindblast, that gives a total of +4, for a final CS value of 23. Next time we ATTACK that bush!

In the distance, perched on the branch of an old oak tree is a jet black raven.

If you have the Kai Discipline of Animal Kinship (which we do!), you may call to this bird by turning to 298.

The head of the bird slowly turns and it curses you. An instant later, it flies off above the trees and has soon disappeared. Shocked by what you have heard you are now sure that the fledgling was a scout of the Darklords and is now probably on its way to inform them of your whereabouts.

Decisions, decisions. On the one hand, if we take the forest track there might be more shrubbery, and even with our spear I don't know if we're up to that. On the other hand a Darklord literally flipped us the bird, and that just ain't right.

(All images and quoted text ©1984 by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk.)