Votes acknowledged; giving Vizigg Icarus Morningstar’s hovers.
63
They’ve served you well, but now it’s time to put your hovers to greater use. You pass them to Vizigg and ask if the storm crystal in them will suffice.
The Technomancer takes the crystal out of the hovers. “Yes! Yes! I think this will work!”
You watch him reassemble the items, adjusting their positions and angles carefully.
“Right!” he says. “Let’s get this island moving! Better hold on to something. I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen!”
He steps into the middle of the circle, holds up his leathery Goblin hands and begins to chant. The objects rise into the air and begin to spin around Vizigg. Eventually the broken storm crystals rise too, and the circle of spinning objects opens out, enveloping them.
“It’s working!” Vizigg shouts, before returning to his chanting.
You watch with amazement as the broken storm crystals become whole again, and in each one a speck of green light begins to grow until there is a miniature tempest enclosed within.
Now the storm crystals are restored, the Nimbus begins to shake. It’s starting to move upwards. Some rubble dislodges and falls towards Vizigg.
Test Your Skill. If you are Successful, turn to
28. If you are Unsuccessful, turn to
286.
Rolling the dice yielded a 9, which means that Icarus Morningstar successfully passed the Skill test, to nobody’s surprise.
28
You run forward and sweep up the elderly Goblin, managing to save both of you from the falling debris. Turn to
216.
216
Vizigg smiles at you weakly. “That was a kind act, Officer.”
You place him down gently, but he drops to the floor. You try to hold him up, but his body seems to have grown heavier with the weight of inevitability.
“We did it,” he says weakly. “I’m fading fast, my friend. The rest is up to you now. When I die, the ward around the Great Hall will be broken. You must deal with whatever is left in there. Its existence is too dangerous for it to be allowed to continue; for Pangaria and the world outside. Do you understand me?”
You nod and say you’ll do whatever it takes to keep Pangaria safe.
He grasps your collar. “You need to … know … the … Stormborn … Boreas. He was there … he’s dangerous … mad … but not as dangerous as …”
His voice falters and his eyes go glassy. You feel the old Goblin’s small body go limp in your arms. He’s gone on to the next world.
There’s a loud
thrumming noise, which you realize must be the sound of the ward around the Great Hall breaking. There’s nothing for it but to venture forth and face whatever’s in there.
You approach the Great Hall door, half expecting it to be flung open by some terrible monster. Instead everything is eerily quiet.
The Nimbus shakes as it slowly travels upwards towards the surface of the ocean.
Taking a torch from the wall nearby, you enter the Great Hall. Turn to
224.
224
The first thing you notice in the Great Hall is that there is rubble everywhere. Half the ceiling has collapsed and so has part of the walls. There’s not a piece of furniture intact. You see the occasional body of a Sky Watch Officer and curse Krazic and his vile creation, whatever its true nature may be.
You hear a groan come from one of the bodies and run over to help. It’s a young woman; battered and bruised, but still alive. You help her to sit up.
“I have to get home,” she mutters. “My mother will be worried. The dragon fruit will need harvesting soon.” She seems very disorientated.
You find a strip of cloth and dip it in a nearby puddle of water, so that you can clean the blood and dirt from the woman’s face. The cold water seems to bring her to her senses.
“Is it over?” she asks, looking at you with fear in her eyes. “Has it gone?”
You reassure the woman, who tells you her name is Malia, and tell her that now Nimbus is rising you will soon be safely back in Pangaria.
The room shakes with the turbulence of the ascent, which dislodges some of the piles of rubble. The Sky Watch Officer gasps as a large metal face is exposed, along with part of a chest and further down part of a leg and a huge metal foot. It’s some kind of metal giant, that is thankfully inert.
You move closer. So, this is what Krazic was working on – a hulking war golem to take to Khul and sell to whichever warlord would pay the highest price. It both saddens and angers you that Pangarian technomancy could be used for such warmongering ends.
You can see from a cavity in the chest where the storm crystal that powered it was once located, but thankfully it now lies broken. You can’t imagine the kind of destruction this monstrosity would wreak if it were fully powered up.
There’s a creak and high up you see a small hatch open in the face of the giant. The hatch is just big enough for an angry Goblin face to poke out of. Turn to
370.
370
“He’s coming! He’s coming! Oh, you’re in trouble now!”
You realize now that the great metal face isn’t human. It’s a giant metal Goblin. It seems that although they are adept at technomancy, they’re not particularly imaginative.
The small Goblin face screeches down from the large metal one: “Get me out of here! Don’t you know who I am?”
It’s Krazic, the Chief Engineer. Without the power of the storm crystal, he’s trapped inside the Golem. In fact, you realize when you look at the joints of the metal beast that you can see eyes blinking back. There are other Goblins inside the Golem, all now prisoners.
You shout back up that you know what he did, and he will be brought to justice when Nimbus reaches Pangaria. This enrages Krazic. “No! We Goblins have been constrained too long by Pangaria’s so-called justice, by her rules. Our skills should not be hidden away. They should be shown to the world!”
Given there’s nothing Krazic can do to hurt you, his furious outbursts from the prison of his own creation are almost comical.
That feeling quickly passes when you feel a wind spring up; odd, considering where you are and the fact that the island is still not out of the water yet. The wind becomes more intense. Krazic yells excitedly. “He’s coming! He’s coming! Oh, you’re in trouble now!”
You pull back behind a pile of rubble with Malia as an ethereal figure appears in the middle of the storm. It’s Boreas the Stormborn and he’s extremely angry.
He conjures a whirlwind, which draws lumps of rubble towards him, and then flings the deadly mess in your direction.
Test your Skill. If you are Successful, turn to
165. If you are Unsuccessful, turn to
128.
Rolling the dice yielded an 8, which means that Icarus Morningstar successfully passed the Skill test, to nobody’s surprise.
165
You dive for cover and just make it in time. The rubble crashes down beside you, leaving you only lightly dusted. Turn to
208.
208
Boreas floats in mid-air whilst the storm whirls around him.
“Thank you for freeing our creation and for restoring the Nimbus, Officer,” says Boreas smugly. “When you turned up, poking around, I though you were merely a nuisance I would have to dispatch, or that you would simply die alongside your pathetic Sky Watch friends. But you have proved to be most useful.
“Once we reach Pangaria, Krazic and I will subdue the rest of the islands and continue with our plans. There is great wealth and power to be had out there in the world and it’s time to take full advantage of it!”
You tell him that it’s over; that the golem is merely a prison for traitorous Goblins now.
“We’ll see about that,” he sneers.
He begins chanting and a pool of water appears on the floor and from it clambers…
Roll one die. If you roll a 1 or 2, turn to
78. If you roll a 3 or 4, turn to
175. If you roll a 5 or 6, turn to
391.
Rolling the die yields a 4.
175
There’s a ululating cry and two scaly-skinned Kokomokoa emerge from the pool, nets and bamboo spears at the ready. From the confused look on Boreas’s face, he was clearly hoping for something a bit more threatening. However, you must fight the amphibious humanoids at the same time.
First KOKOMOKOA SKILL 5 STAMINA 5
Second KOKOMOKOA SKILL 5 STAMINA 5
The first time a Kokomokoa hits you successfully, the creature will snare you with its net; do not deduct any
STAMINA points, but you must reduce your Attack Strength by 2 points for the duration of the battle.
If you win, turn to
392.
The fights:
(First and Second Kokomokoa)
Round 1: First Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 9, Player Attack Strength: 22, Second Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 9, Player Attack Strength: 15
First Kokomokoa Stamina: 2, Player Stamina: 15
Round 2: First Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 12, Player Attack Strength: 17, Second Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 14, Player Attack Strength: 16
First Kokomokoa Stamina: -1, Player Stamina: 15
(Second Kokomokoa)
Round 1: Second Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 12, Player Attack Strength: 21
Second Kokomokoa Stamina: 2, Player Stamina: 15
Round 2: Second Kokomokoa Attack Strength: 8, Player Attack Strength: 23
Second Kokomokoa Stamina: -1, Player Stamina: 15
As expected, Icarus Morningstar flawlessly kills the two Kokomokoa.
392
You feel your heart sink and your blood run cold
As you lay the killing blow, Boreas looks at you with eyes of wrath.
“Clearly there is only one last thing I need to do,” he says in a tone that chills you.
And with that the Stormborn dives into the chest of the Golem, fusing himself with the remains of the fractured crystal. His energy flows through the creation as he turns himself into a living storm crystal.
You feel your heart sink and your blood run cold as the Goblin War Golem lumbers into life, pulling itself from the rubble. You know that you can’t fight it on your own. You’re going to have to call in a favour.
Whilst the Golem is righting itself, you quickly get Malia to safety and tell her to head for the kitchens.
You hate to wake up a sleeping Sea Giant a second time, but it’s urgent. You press the conch shell to your lips and blow.
A low mournful sound echoes around the Citadel. In the distance you hear
thumping, and
crashing, and then there is a knocking sound at the Great Hall door. It takes you a moment to realize that it’s a
kicking sound. You run to open the door, but Tideus, not one to be tied down by convention, decides to crash through the wall next to it instead.
He eyes up the Golem. “Ho! Ho! Ho! A nice big fight for Tideus? Hooman, you is spoiling Tideus! Just wish Tideus was at full strength.”
TIDEUS SKILL 9 STAMINA 10
Make a note of the stats that Tideus currently has on your Adventure Sheet. It seems he’s still not completely recovered from the last battle with you. Then you remember that many potions are unaffected by the size of the creature consuming them and realize you might have a few things that could give Tideus a boost for the fight ahead.
If you want to give Tideus a Healing Potion or a Greater Healing Potion, then turn to
99. If you want to give Tideus a Potion of Might, turn to
114. If you want to give Tideus a Potion of Power, turn to
324.
If you have none of these potions, or do not want to give any of them to the Sea Giant, turn to
129.
Icarus Morningstar has a Greater Healing Potion, a Potion of Might, and a Potion of Power to give to the Giant. Please make your votes on which one of these potions to give him, if any, before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.
Adventure Sheet
Icarus Morningstar
SKILL: 11 INITIAL SKILL: 12
Bathysphere SKILL: 11
STAMINA: 15 INITIAL STAMINA: 20
Bathysphere STAMINA: 2
LUCK: 11 INITIAL LUCK: 12
TIDEUS SKILL: 9
TIDEUS STAMINA: 10
ITEMS:
Clothes
Backpack
Lantern
Calming Potion
Coin Bag
Methedus’s Shard
Aeronaut’s Helmet (+1 SKILL, can go above Initial level, -1 damage taken on a roll of 5 or 6)
Hand Axe
Incus Ledger Page
Fire Oil (3 STAMINA damage to opponent if used at start of battle)
Corrosive Grapes
Strange Brass Rod
Potion of Power (+2 Attack Strength for one combat, +3 STAMINA)
Waterproof Firesticks
Conch
2 Potions of Might (+2 Attack Strength for one combat)
Stinger (+1 Damage dealt for one combat)
Greater Healing Potion (+5 STAMINA)
Large Cleaver
Potion of Proficiency (Ignore weapon penalties and +2 Attack Strength for one combat)
GOLD: 13
PROVISONS:
None
WEAPONS:
Short Sword
Ornate Dagger (+1 Attack Strength)
War-Hammer (-1 Attack Strength, +1 Damage dealt)
Crab Pincer (-1 Attack Strength, +1 Damage dealt)
CODEWORDS:
Hazi
Bubble
Nimbi
HOME ISLAND: Cumulus
RESURRECTION USED: No