[LP] The Way of the Tiger. (Complete)

[angelfromanotherpin]

As you step forward, Yaemon lashes his fist out towards your head, but you drop to one knee and drive a straight-fingered jab up into his midriff, just under his rib-cage. He grunts in pain and doubles up. You spring to yourfeet, whipping your elbow up, so that your right hand rests on your right shoulder, cracking him sharply under the jaw. Subtract 4 from his Endurance; you may double this if you are using Inner Force.

(Yaemon is defeated.)

Yaemon falls mortally hurt to the stone roof of the Great Keep. The wind howls and there is a clap of thunder. His face is suddenly lit up in a flare of lightning and , strangely, he is smiling, calm in the face of death. He raises his voice above the sound of the driving rain: 'You are truly formidable, Ninja. I have fought many great warriors. Your Manmarcher father was one, but I triumphed over him as I did over all the others.' You are about to ask him who your father was when he is racked by a fit of coughing which robs him of his last breath.

Yaemon is dead and you have succeeded in your mission. Your fame as Avenger will spread through the lands of Orb on the wings of fear, for you have killed three tyrants so powerful that they could hold the gods to ransom.



Yaemon's scarlet jacket, now drenched with rain and sweat, has fallen open to reveal a waxed parchment, the Scrolls of Kettsuin. You are about to open this when a wonderful feeling of peace overwhelms you and the voice of your god, Kwon, sounds all around you. 'The Grandmaster of the Dawn named you well, Avenger, for now it is Yaemon and not I who will languish in the lake of boiling blood in Inferno. If you had failed, the Doom Legion and the monks of the Scarlet Mantis would have swept across the Manmarch aided by the priests who revere Nemesis, and all mankind would have lived in terror under the evil overlords you have slain.'

Your wounds are healed as if by a miracle, and new strengthfloods into your body as the god give you Inner Force. You feel dazed and awed by what is happening and the sense of Kwon's goodness fills your soul with enlightenment. 'There is little time now, Avenger, for the gods of evil move against us. You must return the Scrolls of Kettsuin to their rightful place at the Temple of the Rock on the Island of Tranquil Dreams, but your journey will be beset with dangers. I will aid you; choose a skill from the Way of the Tiger which you have not yet mastered and I will grant you its knowledge. It shall be as if you had practiced it from your birthing.'

The god continues, 'I will aid you, but once, at a time of great danger. If you truly have need of me, say only "Kwon, redeem me," and I shall be your salvation. I will watch over you, Avenger, for it is my hope that one day you will join me in the Garden of the Gods.'

As Kwon's presence leaves you, you cannot stop yourself calling out, 'Who was my real father?'

It is as if the wind itself speaks to you as the voice of Kown fades, 'It is not yet time, Avenger.'

You shiver, noticing the coldness of the rain for the first time. Kwon has departed and you are alone once more. With a shock you hear men's cries and the sound of mail-shod feet on the staircase of the Keep...

[Ancient History]

Yay, Lone Wolf-style powerup!

I vote Arrow Cutting or Acrobatics.

[Starmaker]

(Did we ever get Feign Death or Escapology blue options in this book?)

[angelfromanotherpin]

(Did we ever get Feign Death or Escapology blue options in this book?)

No. Escapology is mostly failure-insurance, and there's a couple of places where you can get captured (like by pirates) and it's Escapology or game over. I haven't done an exhaustive look at the book, but I've not seen any Feign Death stuff in it just flipping around.

Of course, we didn't get any Pick Locks+Find/Disarm Traps options either.

[angelfromanotherpin]

So that's book 1, and it totes ends on a semi-cliffhanger.

In retrospect, the final boss fight was not as cool as I remembered it; there's a far better one in book 4 which I think colored my remembrance; nevertheless, it's certainly not bad (especially if you've managed to retain enough Endurance to sustain a mistake or two as you search for the weaknesses in his style). The blind choice is not inappropriate, but it would be better if you got more clues as to which moves would work as the fight went on and you gradually figured out his style.

If you don't get your hands on Sorcerak, there's actually the potential for a pretty sweet showdown with Manse as well. It does have a lot of 'I'm a mage, fuck you' stuff in it, so you need to have taken a path that gets you some protective talismans, but there's also calls to Ninja skills, such as when his staff turns into a snake and Immunity to Poisons is very helpful.

The main thrust of the story is not too bad, except I think it needed to be more focused. Specifically, less random arena fights and chaos barbarians, more stature-building for the main villains (and their targets). The whole book is about leading up to a final showdown between Avenger and the three big bads, so the threats and consequences need to be well-established, and they were only kinda established.

However, for my part, all the weaknesses are excusable because the book does a really good job of actually making you feel like a bad-ass goddamn ninja. Some of that is in what it leaves out; there are few choices that make you feel like an uninformed idiot, relatively few bullshit deaths, and fights with mooks are relegated to 'you win' flavor text, leaving you to take on the worthier opponents. But the content where you one-shot enemies in very cool ways, such as Tiger-throwing the pirate captain into the water, or needling the arena mage, or taking out Honoric with the classic dripping poison method... that is legitimately great stuff.

Next up, noteworthy missed content.

[angelfromanotherpin]

If you try to poison needle Yaemon:

As fast as you are able, you place a needle on your tongue as you somersault forwards through the air to being yourself within range. As you land on your feet, you spit hard and the needle arrows towards Yaemon. He makes no attempt to move but then, to your amazement, he blows the small dart aside, inches from his face.

(Fucker. Though it certainly informs you of the quality of enemy he is.)


Darth, there's a few endings that might appeal to you.

As you kneel before the great altar in the vast vaults of the domed cathedral, Fate accepts you as her reverencer. At the same time, your own god Kwon renounces you, and your Inner Force is tripped away, leaving you weakened. This does not worry you, for now you know that it was fated that this should come to pass and that it would be pointless to regret. Your quest to kill Yaemon seems unimportant and you idle your days in the dreamy city of Fiendilas a priest in the cathedral, until one day even the calm folk of the city seem agitated. A great darkness, a long night without days, is followed by news that the dread Legion of the Sword of Doom and the monks of the Scarlet Mantis have sacked the Spires of Foreshadowing and now march on Fiendil. It is too late. Kwon is incarcerated in Inferno, but your failure does not trouble you.

You leap back but stumble down the stairs and the now huge green gem tumbles down on top of you. You find yourself inside it and it carries you down the staircase, rolling out across the roof of the Great Keep. Through the glassy green wall you see Yaemon appear as Manse follows you out onto the Keep's roof. The gem begins to contract, and you shrink with it until you are the size of an ant. Manse the Deathmage smiles as he picks the gem up from the floor and you hear him remarking to Yaemon that he will have you mounted in a ring. You will live a long time, a miniature madman on the hand of the Deathmage.

(Oo, there's a part where you can infiltrate the Temple of Vile and scope out Yaemon's style – it specifically tells you that he's vulnerable to the Forked Lightning Strike. I'd never seen that before.)

A demon that Manse sends after you...

Not in itself very noteworthy, but it comes with this text: 'My master, Manse the Deathmage, has sent me to take you to the City of Brass, in the Elemental Plane of Fire.' Just in case there was any doubt you were in a D&D campaign world.

An enchantress who can help you if you get way off course.

She's not actually a catgirl: 'her face is painted so that she resembles an exquisite cat. You have never seen such face paint and the unnaturalness disturbs you.'

Manse casting Finger of Death.

He has a custom version which tears your heart out and sends it to his hand.

The snow giant from the arena.

Looks like a Scooby-Doo monster.

[hogarth]

I think the Sagard books spoiled us in terms of expecting healing all the time. The path we took was pretty stingy with it, at any rate!

What happens if you avoid the arena city? What do you encounter instead?

[angelfromanotherpin]

A fight with a two-headed giant whom you can loot for a Gauntlet of Striking (+1 to Punch), and a visit to Fiendil, where the Fate-worshippers are - one of them may enchant one of your shuriken, which gives it +1 to hit (and secretly lets it pass through mystic barriers). But you miss out on learning Kwon's Flail, which is a gift that keeps on giving.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Those are both indeed pretty nifty bad endings.

What happens if we try to fight Rune Weaver for the crown?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Runeweaver shoots his sword energy at you, which you can intercept with a shuriken, which is pretty baller. Then there's a middling difficulty fight, but if you win the sword is useless to a non-magician and the lightning circlet is dark elf-made and [Evil] and burns you for 3 Endurance for touching it. The whole exercise is a complete waste.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Any other votes for our new Skill?

Options:
• Arrow Cutting
• Acrobatics
• Immunity to Poisons
• Feigning Death
• Escapology

[Darth Rabbitt]

Oh, right; I vote for Poison Immunity or Acrobatics.

[Korgan0]

Acrobatics.

[Dr_Noface]

I also vote acrobatics. Seems like it might come up a lot.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Book 2 is kind of an odd duck. On some level, it's the second weakest of the six five books. The rest of the volumes very definitely move the plot forward, placing Avenger in very different circumstances each time. This one... well, if Book 1 was about going from the Island of Tranquil Dreams to Quench-heart Keep and killing three enormous villains, Book 2 is about going from Quench-heart Keep to the Island of Tranquil Dreams. The return trip is not usually the most interesting part of a journey.

This is not to say it's dull, because the part I left out is 'and staying alive.' There's a perspective where last book Avenger was the hunter, and now he is the hunted, as the evil forces of Orb mobilize to do some avenging of their own. I just think it's not a different enough experience to stand out, because it still involves a deal of wandering through areas that would be strange and hostile whether or not you'd recently ganked Yaemon & Pals.

But enough pre-analysis. The opening pages reiterate a lot of the material we've already seen, including a recap of last book. I'm just going to throw up a few images here.

(And then we pick up right where we left off.)

From the echoing footfalls, you guess that more than twenty soldiers are running up the Keep's spiral staircase towards you and they will surely try to kill you when they find out what you have done to their leader, Honoric, and his allies, Yaemon and Manse the Deathmage. The roof is still dimly lit by the glowing coals from a brazier.

Avenger, Grandmaster of the Five Winds
Modifiers: Fortune +1
Inner Force: 5
Endurance: 20
Techniques: Acrobatics, Climbing, Disable Device, Poison Needles, Kwon's Flail.
Shuriken: ****
Ninja Tools: Ninja Costume, Breathing Tube, Iron Sleeves, Garotte, Flint & Tinder, Spiderfish.
Special Items: Opal Ring, Pouch with 15 Gold Pieces.

• Defend the top of the staircase, so that they can only come at you singly?
• Try an enormous leap from the Keep's roof, hoping that you can clear the castle wall and land in the moat far below?
• If you are skilled at Climbing, you may wish to climb down the outside wall of the Great Keep?

[Darth Rabbitt]

We climbed up, so let's climb back down!

[Omegonthesane]

Did something happen to the shuriken we wasted on Yaemon to make them unretreivable?

Seconding climbing.

[Shrapnel]

We aren't Yamato Man, thus we cannot retrieve our shuriken.

(Yes, I know Yamato Man don't not use shuriken; just let me have my sick fantasy.)

[angelfromanotherpin]

Did something happen to the shuriken we wasted on Yaemon to make them unretreivable?

Huh, I guess not. I always assumed that they'd have fallen off the keep when he blocked them... but the text is completely neutral on whether or not we get them back. The default seems to be that we get 'em back. Good catch!

[angelfromanotherpin]

You dart nimbly to the edge of the Keep's roof and, fixing your Cat's Claws to your wrists and hands, begin the difficult descent towards the grass of the Inner Bailey below. You can hear exclamations of horror from the guards above as they discover Yaemon's body, but none of them thinks to look down the sheer sides of the Great Keep.

You are halfway down before a break in the clouds allows the light of the moon to shine through. A guard in the Bailey sees what he takes to be a huge, black spider walking down the Keep wall and unleashes a crossbow bolt at you.

(Avenger does not have the skill of Arrow Cutting.)

The crossbow bolt catches you in the shoulder, embedding itself inches deep. Lose 5 Endurance.

(Well, it was nice while it lasted.)

If you are still alive, you try to control your pain as dimly you hear the guard calling for help.

• Try to force an entry through one of the windows?
• Continue your climb to the courtyard below?

[Darth Rabbitt]

If he's calling for help, they'll probably head for the room he's in, and then look out as many windows as possible.

Try breaking in through a window and hope that it's far enough from this loser's post that we can get away unnoticed.

[Starmaker]

Also, we have a crossbow bolt stuck in our shoulder. Windows.

[angelfromanotherpin]

When you have smashed your way through the window you find yourself in a deserted bedchamber with a door which opens out on the spiral staircase; this leads to the bottom of the Keep. As you glide down it, you hear the clatter of guards coming down from the roof behind you, and a bugle which blows five sharp notes. You reach the hallway and the clank of armour alerts you as soldiers appear at both ends of the hall, but there is a doorway ahead of you.

(Avenger did not kill the Keep's torturer in AVENGER!)



Your only real choice seems to be the door ahead of you and you move towards it, ducking suddenly as one of the guards fires his crossbow at you. Make a Fate Roll.

(10+1, Fate smiles.)

The guardsman's crossbow bolt whistles over your head, and you leap into the door which swings open. Your heel catches a slightly raised flagstone and a trap discharges with a click and double thud behind you, but you are lost to sight in a twinkling down the stairs beyond. They wind steeply downward beneath the Keep and the walls drip with moisture.

The rattle of links of chain alerts you to be quiet as you come to an underground room lit by the glowing coals of a brazier. A young boy chained to the wall goggles at you but says nothing. You are in the torture chamber of Quench-heart Keep.

A ducking stool hangs over a pool of water which stretches to the back wall of the chamber. A man bound on a spiked rack moans feebly as the insomniac torturer turns it another notch, stretching the poor man's burn-scarred limbs to the point of dislocation. The torturer has a large axe in his belt, and his broad, heavily muscled back runs with sweat in the heat of the brazier. He wears heavy, spiked bracelets of leather and the black hood of an executioner.

He whirls to face you as the guards, now pounding down the steep steps behind you, shout a warning. You are trapped between the torturer and the guards.

• Dive into the pool and swim underwater to the back wall?
• Attack the torturer?
• Surrender to the torturer?
• Call upon Kwon the Redeemer to be your salvation?

[MisterDee]

Fight the torturer, I think. Not sure we can do anything about the prisoners, but we can at least Avenge them.

[Darth Rabbitt]

I get the feeling the pool is a trap, so we should show this torturer the true meaning of pain.