This cover is wild! No wonder I remember it. I don't know what the main creature is. He looks like a different coloured Orc. Maybe one of those elite orcs from Caverns of Malice. But lets mention the giant two headed fire breathing snake that he is riding! Fire is most certainly the theme. Glowing fire sword, snake breathing fire. And even this little guy -
 |
| Which helpfully does not have the location of the volcano on it. |
 |
| Wait is this not how Chasms of Malice started? |
I scramble up the pile of rubble into some
bright sunlight. As I come out, I feel a
warty hand helping me up. As I blink in
the light a Goblin is smiling back at me but behind him is a group of soldiers
pushing a large battering ram against the outer defences. This is causing a lot of smoke and shaking,
so much so that the path I just came out of seals itself with a bit of a
landslide. My new Goblin friend tells me
to watch my step and asks which regiment I belong to. I can say I do not have one or try and blag
it. I feel I should at least try and
blag it, I have a high luck score. It
would be a bit suss to be this close to the front line without a regiment.
Luckily I have heard tales of the Bonecrusher Battalions,
so I say them. Not so luckily it turns
out that they have not landed yet and the Goblin puts a sword to my throat. He calls out to his friend Coney to bring the
list as he thinks they have another spy.
I am marched to an earthen dug out while they go through a book
containing information on all the Knights, Squires and Nobles of the kingdom. As they can not find me they decide I am not
worth anything so better kill me. I can
say I meant to join the Bonecrushers or tell them I am a deserter.
I tell them I am a deserter, hoping they will
then find me valuable and not kill me! I
am marched through the trenches to a big wooden wagon with metal bars and
forced in. The Goblin tells me to wait
here as he goes to fetch the inquisitor as she always gets to the truth. It is then that my bracelet lights up for the
first time to show the first wall down.
Perhaps it was my friends with the battering ram. In the cage with me are two soldiers, a woman
and a monk. The monk is smiling and beckoning
me over. Do I stay put or go over. Well I have only made three choices so far
and I have ended up in a cage just outside the citadel so its not going
great. Lets see what he has to say.
His eyes are described as fiery and intense. He assures me that trust is the way and asks
me if I have the torch! Do I tell him? Well in the intro it said watch out for the
hooded guys, this guy is not hooded.
Also it said look out for the religious sect for help and this guy is a
monk so I tell him I have the torch.
This does not seem to phase him and instead
seems to spend the next few minutes meditating.
When he stops he says I must leave this place and he will help me. Introducing himself as Kendoki he confirms he
is indeed a monk of the Wazarri. He says
there is no need for any explanations as the prophecy has already told him
everything and he knows the way ahead of me is very hard. Things then get a little trippy.
Ken holds out a white cube and hands it to
me. As I take it, it disappears and
instead I can see it spinning in my mind.
Apparently this is the die of the seven levels of the Wazarri. In my travel to the Fangs I must look clearly
and carefully at times of great danger.
If I see a vision of a piece of thread linking six white cubes I can
spin the die in my mind and aim for my true level. Be true to yourself and you will not
physically handle anything but the number of white cubes you have will be known
to others when I reach the sacred centre.
Ken what are you babbling about?
How long have you been in this cage?
What this means in game terms is if I have
a page illustration and I see a thread with six cubes on it, I need to roll a
dice and mark that many white cubes to my total. If the amount of cubes on the page is less
than 6, then that is the maximum you can get, even if you roll over that.
Ken then stands up and says no time for
explanations other than Jaxartes is killing his people and trying to extinguish
the flame. Look to the novices, the
fighting arm of the order who can not speak, the Wazarri Silent Knights. He then entrusts me with his greatest secret,
the name of his religion, XEN.
Apparently saying this out loud will cause him to die in a year and a
day. Ken that’s a bit extreme!
He stands up and takes the metal bar and
easily pushes them open. He tells me XEN
is very powerful but he is not allowed to profit from it and must stay in the
prison. He bids me farewell and the rest
of us leg it. I find my sword in a
barrel and duck under a wagon as the alarm is raised. I decide its best to hide in a group. Do I go to a group of infantry or the orc cavalry
and their attendants? Well I do not
think ill blend in with the Orcs very well so off to the infantry.
As I head towards them a Goblin grabs me
and ask where I am going and I point to the group. He says no they are elite so I need to go to
the Irregulars on the left. Hey I am skill
11, that’s pretty elite.
I am marched over to a field full of men,
women, children, Orcs, Ogres and lots of other creatures. Everyone is wearing different armour and
weapons and the Goblin finds a big fat man to talk too. He waddles over along with two others and
says normally they only let the high-born join the regiment but since there is
a war on they are taking others. The two
others are sniggering so it is clearly sarcasm.
He asks for all my gold to join.
I can refuse, give half or give all.
Yeah I am skill 11, you are not getting my gold.
The fat captain sits back down to put his
boots on and says to the others it’s a third share each as the Knucklers attack
me. Skill 5 and Skill 6 though, they are
in for a bit of a shock. I easily
dispatch them and the captain just says good, you are in. Now clean up the bodies.
I sit around watching well disciplined
units march past, and realise why we are called the irregulars. Disputes flare up, fights rage and people are
stabbing each other. Without any command
everyone all of a sudden stand up and pick up their weapons and head to the
siege lines. Walking with the rabble I
see a mounted unit of Orcs waiting to engage the Zamarran Knights who are sallying
from the citadel. My unit is to slow
down the Knights to allow the Orcs to mop them up. One squad charges straight at us and I see
Peric of Inna unseated close to me and his armour is holding him down. A goblin with an axe is about to cut his head
off. Do I help Peric or mount his horse
and break out? Well a good guy would
help Peric, but my missions is much more important. It would also be hilarious if I cause one of
the walls to fall. Urgh I better play
good and help Peric.
The goblin is only skill 6 so I easily
dispatch him. However stupid Peric thinks
we were fighting over who gets to kill him and instead swallows a suicide tablet. Stupid Peric!
Anyway I get grabbed and hauled up in front of the captain, who decides I
need to be executed. I get hit and black
out and lose 2 stamina.
 |
| I am for the chop, oh wait nice necklace! |
I see the 6 white cubes on a string and
roll a 4. I wake with a thudding pain in
the back of my head and find my head on the chopping block. All in all this escape is not going
well. As the Orc prepares to swing, a
small dart plants on the side of his neck and he freezes. A female warrior appears and cuts me loose
and throws my sword to me. She turns to
face four orcs which I can help her with or take care of the goblin with the
dagger heading towards us.
I decide to take down the goblin so he can’t
stab us in the back. He is only skill 5
so again I take him down without getting hit.
I turn round to help my rescuer but she has already killed the four Orcs. She must be skill 12! She leads me to a tent and its got all my
possessions in it, including the torch.
Why does she not take the torch? She is clearly more qualified!
She then leads me out and we duck from
cover to cover and through a trench, past a repair yard and then some chained
up elves. Then we rest and I get 6
stamina back! That’s some rest. She does not seem able to talk, so I wonder
if she is a Silent Knight. She does
draw something in the dirt though but I can hear something crashing through the
undergrowth. Do I take a closer look at
the drawing? Yes as I am pretty sure she
can deal with what is coming.
She has drawn three figures and points to
them then herself. The only difference
is that there shields and daggers point to different compass points –
First – Dagger North West, Shield South
West
Second – Dagger South, Shield North West
Third – Dagger South West, Shield West
Well that means nothing to me, but she
makes the sign of the cube.
The crashing get closer and she draws her
sword. It is clear she is going to make
a last stand. She points me in the
direction to go and I just leave her as she is capable enough. At least that’s what the text tells me, I
would have stayed with her as she is clearly a fighting machine! A few minutes later I hear screams and
clashing steel as the bracelet lights up to show a second wall has gone. I come to the cliffs opposite the island of
Karakum and I can either go down to the sandy cove or stick to the cliff tops?
I like the idea of holding the high ground
so I stick to the cliff tops. My character
muses about how difficult it is to get away from the siege lines! Yep, I have already been captured twice! I come to a set of tents that look like the
commanders. Do I want to go down or wait
a bit? Let’s wait and see what happens.
As I am watching I hear a twig snap behind
me (I could add 1 luck but not required). Two Rouges are sneaking up with bundles of
swag, obviously waylaying lone soldiers.
They attack me, Skill 4 and Skill 5, big mistake lads. They are dispatched with no issue and I head
down to the tents.
 |
| Look how far I've come! I've been captured twice just to get this far! |
Are those white cubes on a string on the tent to the left? I can’t decide so I roll. I got a 2. I get distracted by the bracelet glowing again, wall 3 did not last long at all. I am starting to think all the walls will fall before I am even through the siege. All of a sudden, I see long nosed sniffer orcs so need to go into one of the tents.
Ok long-term readers will
know we always go left, but that leads to the tent with a skull, that seems
bad. The claw also does not look great
so let’s go for the nice-looking angel wings.
Turns out it was
vulture wings, but its not a disaster as when I enter the tent a person is
waiting for me and they belong to the Wazarri and here to help. They are in fact a spy and help me put on
some armour (no skill bonus) and advises me to ride North with a patrol.
I walk out the tent and
with my visor down I could be anyone. Two
dwarf form a mounting block to get me up on my horse (the irony as I write this
I am at my daughters pony camp). As I
canter off I am joined by six other riders.
We ride far beyond the siege lines to the North and I manage to get 5 of
them to do a sortie to the east (this happens off screen) but I am left with
one other who will not leave as she is my bodyguard. Do I try and out ride her or attack? She can not be much of a bodyguard as she has
not noticed I am a different person!
Skill 11 says just attack her, bit sick of horses by now to be honest.
Well, she was skill 8
and she did gets me a couple of times. I
decide to eat a meal to make up for it, poking a cheese sandwich through my
visor. Yes I know I could just lift it
but that’s not quite as funny.
I dismount and take
off the hot and heavy armour. It crashes
to the ground which spooks the horse which then breaks away from the branch I
tied it too and gallops off. Bloody
horses! Inside the armour I find a pouch
with 5 gold in it. I rest which gives me
2 stamina back and I regret wasting that provision. The bracelet lights up again and that’s now 4
walls down. I can now head to the river
or a wider road. I consult the map and
it looks like the road is the easier way to get up to the mountains so I head
that way.
The road is deserted
until I come to a roofed watering well which has a really old women leaning
against it. She turns and tells me she
dropped her masters valuable fiddle into the well and pleads for my help or she
will be beaten. This seems extremely suspect
but in the tradition of worrying that I will miss a valuable trinket I head
down.
 |
| Excuse me good sir, but have you seen a fiddle? |
Ah 6 white cubes on a string though. I roll a 6 as well! Of course it’s a trap, the old women starts cackling and saying there is some food for you as a Horned Devil appears. He is only skill 5 and despite the -2 skill penalty for fighting in a bucket he is easily dispatched. Now the rope is still there, and I can try to climb up it but I also spot a gap in the side of the well. I assume the old women will just cut the rope so lets try the gap.
I follow the dark
dingy tunnel for a few hours as another citadel wall goes down and eventually
come to a wooden door. The next torchlit
tunnel is full of bones, rubbish, hats, shoes, fruit and smells terrible. It leads to another well and I look down and
its full of sludge, but there is sunlight.
Just then someone coughs behind me and I can either swing round with my
sword and attack or just turn around. I
feel if they were bad they would not have coughed so my sword stays sheathed.
The creature is a mix
of a Dwarf and Orc and is holding a shovel.
A Dwarf Orc! Nice to see a
fantasy setting where such love can blossom.
He warns me not to fall into the sludge as the smell lingers. One sniff of him tells me that is correct and
he asks if I am lost. We are below the
village of Teriyakit and his job is the muck shoveler and he shows me the way
out. I climb up a rope ladder into the
fresh air and I get the choice of two inns to visit, the Ferret’s claws or the
Gannet’s nest? By the way the village is
not on my map!
I go to the Gannet’s
nest for no other reason than I know someone who has that as their last
name. It is not a popular tavern and its
got some locals, some dwarfs and three very well armed men. A bald man is selling trinkets and asks if I
want a crystal ball for 1 gold. I have
not bought anything yet so decide to try it.
 |
| You didn’t tell me this crystal ball came with white cubes! |
I roll for my cubes and get a 3. I am now the proud owner of 15 white cubes and 4 black ones. The peddler does not take my money as he is here to help. The image you see comes up on the crystal ball and he tells me to seek the three Wazarri Novices as they will guide me to my goal. He warns me that wanted posters with my face are around the town (that was quick, getting my likeness printed and distributed ahead of me) and that the men in the corner are Rouge Catchers looking for me. He tells me to head to the forest, pass the domain of Kragaar (the snake people) to Sikla’s barrow where the Wazarri await. He tells me to leave quickly so I do but one of the men get up at the same time. Do I run and duck down an alley or walk away casually.
I decide to go casual,
if they knew it was me all three would have gone. Running just looks guilty. This is a mistake and he does recgonise me
and we end up in a fight. Skill 6 is
nowhere near enough to give me any trouble though and away I go.
I leave the village in
haste and stay off the beaten tracks.
Eventually I get to the forest and start following a goat track. The track eventually meets another but it
also comes with three sets of hoofprints.
We follow on until a fork, but fear not its not a blind t-junction! Carved on the tree is a figure holding a
shield pointing west and a dagger going to the south east which the horses followed.
Always Left, and shield
sounds better than dagger. I follow on
and another fork with the same thing with a shield pointing west but the dagger
points north east. Ill just follow the
shield now.
I walk for many hours
so decide to rest and would have got 2 stamina points back. But of course another wall goes as the bracelet
flashes up again. I notice a black
bottle by a tree root, do I want to pull the stopper and check it out or keep
on going. Bottles tend to be either
something bad or something restorative and as I've not tested my luck once and
everything still max, I pass.
As I carry on I hear
grunting so decide to walk faster but it keeps up, I begin to run but two wild
boar appear. Skill 5 and Skill 4 though.
They do have very high stamina so the
fight goes on for quite a while (12 and 14) and I get caught a couple of times
before defeating them.
The path gets darker
and occasionally I see twin shafts of flame burning before going out. I come across a smooth mound which I can
climb or continue to follow the path around. This could be the barrow the peddler in the inn told me to look out for. I go exploring up the mound.
I have to search for
the religion whose name cannot be uttered.
I know that one! Xen! Ok I admit at first I thought it was just
find the number under the letter and it made no sense. But the word Xen was actually there in a row!
A thin blue mist rises
from the block and figure of a monk appears.
He says if I was previously advised to seek the three Wazzari guides (I
was, by a crystal ball) do not for they have now been killed! Follow the forest path ever straight to the
bridge but do not cross it look for the warrior with the fist of fire, she will
take…. He gets cut off two manic eyes appear and say Torchbearer! I shudder and leave the mound.
The forest path is now
a blind junction on left, centre or right.
Well strange monk apparition said follow it straight so centre it
is.
Right enough I arrive
at the bridge. Across the bridge I see
three figures making camp and the food smells delicious. Do I cross the bridge or cautiously avoid it
and cross the stream. Well until one
paragraph ago I would have thought those were the three Knights from the
crystal ball. Now it’s a big nope and I
avoid.
As I ford the river I
see flame rise up into the sky in the shape of a fist to the left. Do I want to investigate it or head to the
camp I saw. Again follow the monks
advice so I go to investigate.
 |
| Excuse me but where are your white cubes? |
The women is fighting the warriors of Ostragoth’s armies and I go to her aid and end up fighting three Garks! All are skill 7 stamina 11. I get hit a few times but they are eventually dispatched. She greets me with a handshake as she can not talk and indicates for me to follow her.
She leads me through a
series of difficult paths and secret tracks leading into the lower northern mountains. Eventually we are looking down at a large
fort surrounded by a wall of fire that has been surrounded by goblins being led
by a Dark Elf. We climb down.
As we approach the
flame wall the women picks up a stone and makes a gesture and an opening
appears in the flames. We run through
but two goblins spot us and give chase. Once we are through, the flames come back and the goblins are rather
horribly incinerated. Inside the fort it
is looking grim. They only have a dozen
knights and their squires and the rest are children. One of the squires approach and the girl
points to me. He says You have fulfilled
the prophecy. The Wazarri know you as
the Torchbearer, the one chosen to rekindle the Fangs of Fury. He then asks me to follow him and I say
thanks to the women.
The Bastion is clearly
undermanned and they look like they have not slept for weeks. I am led to a grand chamber where a badly
wounded Knight sits on a throne. He does
not speak but there are two stone chairs, one on his left and one to the right
and I realize this is some kind of test and must pick one to sit on. I have missed something obviously so default
to left.
The Knight looks to
the squire to speak. You have fulfilled
the prophecy of Kei-Okano, I must go to the Homrath caves and find the
key. He hands me 6 black cubes and I get
6 stamina back to put me at max. The
squire takes me top the gate and points out the mountain. I pass through another gap in the fire and
oddly there is no sign of the besiegers.
After several hours I come across a tall
pillar with a chained young boy, he is being attacked by Dragonmen and screams
for help. Do I want to help? Well never met a Dragonman before so do not
know if they are bad or good. Better
help.
 |
| I see those sneaky white cubes on the stairs |
Rolled a 4 for white cubes. Well turns out once I free the dude he changes into a Dragonman and I have by far my most difficult fight against three dragonmen. Two skill 8s and one skill 9. I do quite well but still need to eat 2 meals afterwards. Do I want to follow the path or head to the flat topped mountain. Well the mountain is where I was pointed towards so I go there.
The mountain is quite
a journey and cost another 4 stamina if you do not have elf wings. Elf Wings!
That sounds awesome, why do I not have any!? I eat another meal. So at the top of the mountain I find three
holes 100 yards apart in the shape of a triangle that I can jump in. Or try and pick up the trail on the other
side. The key is in the caves
somewhere. Which hole to jump in? It’s a
blind choice. I split the difference and
jump into hole 2. I land in a chamber
full of blocks with the number 75 on them.
I can take the block but it weighs 10 units. I can carry up to 60. I take this one and have three numbered exits
to take. This better not be a maze. I swear if it’s a maze we will have a falling
out!
I choose exit 1 and I am now in an empty cave with a drawing of a broken phial and a skull and
crossbones. Mental note, do not break any
phials. Exit 1or 2? I stick with exit 1 and now a block with 15
on it so I pick that up and now have 4 exits.
I am going to need a map. Although the way I work these things is take a note of the paragraph to avoid repeats.
I end up in a room with a key suspended from a rope and a bunch of semaphore men.
This means nothing to me and I have seen them while flicking through the book. I obviously missed the bit where I can interpret them. Do I want to cut the key down, pull at the rope or continue on. Well I came here specifically for a key so I cut it down. Another key magically appears and its time to continue on.
I pick up another block, this one has the picture of a mushroom and the number 50, past a cave with an illegible subscription. Another pictograph I can not read, pick up a block with a circle that is the number 27, a block with a cube and number 22, block with a cross and number 39 which also sets off my bracelet for another wall going down.
That last paragraph probably shows about 20 minutes playtime and it not depressing at all. I finally enter a room with phials set in the rock and get asked if I want to open one. Not after seeing that picture earlier!
This leads me into a room with block shaped holes with different symbols next to them. So I need to add up the blocks total and hopefully I can get out. 228 it is.
With that I enter the Fangs of Fury themselves. It is a blind three way choice of which path to take so you know I go left. Its another symbol I can not read, and things get very smoky and a black figure passes me. I decide to keep going left.
The following few hours are just one paragraph and the bracelet glows twice in the meantime. That is now 9 walls down and I am starting to think this is how I die. I find a sheer drop and can go down or continue on. I feel like the source will be down in the volcano so I head down.
I lose two stamina climbing down and I am told if you had elf wings they have disintegrated. Good serves those guys right with their fancy laddy-da Elf Wings. The cavern at the bottom has 6 dead monks all smiling with a black cube each. Do I want to take the cubes? Nah I have a lot already and have not used then, not worth the risk. If the monks were alive I might have.
Well amazingly as I pass them a pedestal with 6 black cubes appears and a voice tells me to take them and my dude does (I might have thought it was a trap and ignored them if i had a choice).
Waiting for me at the top of some steps is one of the mage warriors the intro warned me about. He is only skill 8 but I do not have a wand so have a -2 skill penalty. Stamina 10 so I am a bit worried. As I have not used my luck at all yet and its on 12, I use it with my first hit and then we trade blows before he goes down. I eat two more meals to celebrate (A Greggs sausage roll and pineapple tart).
 |
| Are you guys playing Q-Bert? |
I am in huge cavern. There is a bridge leading across a chasm that leads to seven entrances. Out of the smokey mist three monks slowly appear chanting in harmony. They welcome me to the Fangs of Fury and the centre of their religion. I am assured I will not be harmed by the holy flame as I have been deemed worthy. But how far up? Well that depends on how many white cubes I have. I thought 19 was a lot but it only gets me up to level 5.
As I enter a voice says I have found the elements of true way and can restore luck or skill to original level. Luck please.
I enter a room with two charred bodies. A standing figure has his back to me but whirls around. It is Jaxartes. He does an evil wizard speech about him being the mightiest of wizards and that he will be waiting for me around every corner before disappearing. Blind t-junction alert. I go left.
This tunnel proceeds to try an torch me and I have to use 4 black cubes. Before another blind choice. I keep going left and come to a chamber full of dead bodies. Both monks and mage warriors. All are charred and fleshless. It is then an ape like creature holding a long tube appears. He introduces himself as Grokkar, defender of the tombs of the dead and I am trespassing. No discussions, he just starts shooting fireballs at me! I have to test my luck three times. Wow first time testing luck and I need to do it three times haha. I pass each time and again decide to randomly go left.
I am now in a library with more charred bodies on the floor. Most of the books are burnt. Just then a burning parchment piece wafts towards me. Do I want to grab it? Goin by the burnt bodies, not really, and I can not read this language anyway,
Just like that I am at the ornate entrance to the Fangs of Fury's furnace. But the flames do not burn and Jaxartes is standing between two giant statues of warriors. I get another tirade about him putting out the flames, I can not rescue the wizards, he will rule over the world etc etc. He then proceeds to change size and grows to the same height of the statues and starts shooting flames at me. Just then though there is a voice saying the key, the key as a cube raises up in front of me -
Its got 50 locks (0-49) and I need a key or lock pick. If I have a key I should know which one to use, otherwise I need to bash it in with my sword but every wrong answer costs you a black cube or you get torched for 4 stamina.
Now I have a key so why do I not have a number? I went back and looked at that paragraph and its got the writing I can not read. So I will need to brute force this. I know there is no 0 and 1 has been used so I start at 2. 12 black cubes later and a bit of singeing and me gulping down my potion of strength it seems 18 was the answer. I say seems as its not the clearest.
The flame rekindles and begins to blaze as Jaxartes screams. I detach the torch from my hiding place and plunge it in and we get a multi coloured light show.
 |
| I accidently joined the power rangers. |
Jaxartes screams like he is in the combined torments of hell and we only see his face left. Now the volcano is hot again I collapse and dream of being lifted into fresh air. When I do awake there is a cool hand on my brow and I am in a lush valley. I panic and start firing questions like how are the wizards? I would have never asked about the wizards. She smiles and tells me I am in the monastery of Hei-okji of the Wazarri. She gives me a crystal ball and tells me to take a look.
 |
| Nobody told that dude in the tower the plan. |
I see the sentinels break free from the walls and start decimating the enemy army. The girl says I have saved the wizards and their religion and my deeds will be celebrated for ages to come among the faithful. TURN TO 400!
The bracelet drops off my wrist and all of a sudden transforms so its covered in valuable gems. When I am recovered I ride back to Zamarra on a white charger (still do not like horses) and see the devastation of the sentinels who have returned to stone, blood spattered on their bodies.
The King promotes me to Commander-in-Chief of all Zamarran forces and I bump into Captain Laski and I flinch expecting a tirade of abuse. But instead he salutes me which I return and walk away with a big smile.
Wait who was the traitor?
Notable Encounters -
Can I even call the siege an encounter? Probably not as its the entire first section. There is so much going on here. You can end up trying to free a stuck catapult, punching a prisoner before they recognise you, getting a boat to an island, getting a child to guide you out, getting shot at by arrows and stealing a mount from the orc cavalry. It is quite something and I like how there are many, many different ways out.
You can even end up on a proper ship, the Gargu-Ran, or another no named ship. It does not last very long though before either ship sinks and you end up swimming. Interestingly it does not seem to matter what ship you get on.
 |
| Getting taught the Alphabet! |
You have to play a stupid dice game of luck though to get him to teach you this. More likely he will just send you on your way to take care of some drunk orcs stealing grain. Honestly the amount of times you will go back to this page to decode.
 |
| You can work it out at school as well. |
 |
| Those are Elf Wings! |
 |
| The fire demon taking a break from mushroom farming in the Forest of Doom. |
 |
| The gem exchange! |
Why do you need the gem exchange? Well because the torch gets stolen and the only way the thief will return it is if you give him 500 gold. To get said gold you need to go to the nearby Dragonmen cave and basically steal all their jewels and exchange them for gold to then get your torch back!
 |
| Do you want to be the hero and save the child? Or hide in the grass? |
Artwork -
David Gallagher has his first go at the internal illustrations. I think this is the first time we have had both the cover artist and internal artist being the same person. David has done covers before as well but not the internals. From my playthrough I would say my favorite is the Gark battle with the flaming fist behind it. Closely followed by the tents with the siege scene behind them.
I really like the idea of having white cubes hidden in the artwork. It makes it so much more interactive and I found myself pouring over the details. But in saying that I do feel a few pieces feel rushed.
 |
| This is meant to be a chariot, if you look close, it kind of is. |
 |
| Now this would have been useful! |
 |
| Just having a quite cup of tea as my dragon flies about. |
 |
| The octopus keeps causing bother! |
 |
| After the success of Dagger of Darkness, surfing tigers became huge in Zamarra. |
There are some pieces which I thought stood out more -
 |
| The dwarf got too greedy trying to steal the Dragonmen's horde. |
 |
| The Fangs of Fury in all their glory! Ignore the stone samurai, just push him over with a lucky dice roll. |
 |
| Bridge of fire, with mysterious fire dude. |
Big Bad -
 |
| Take me seriously!! |
If you only read the start of the book you would be forgiven if you thought Ostagoth the Grim was going to be the big bad. However, he does not even appear in the book outside some vague mentions. Instead it is the wizard Jaxartes, because of course, wizards!
Jaxartes did not stand out much for me. His motivation is the normal wants to take out rival wizards so he can rule a big area of Khul. Well, with help from his pal Ostagoth. What I do like is that he pops up a few times, not just for a final climatic battle. In fact you can bump into him at the siege and the only thing that stops him taking the torch is that he is distracted by a sally from the knights. His disembodied voice stalks you during the escape.
Then in the Fangs of Fury he appears and starts trolling you and then can have a couple of swordfights with him where he is skill 9 and skill 10. Both end with him disappearing.
When you do get to the final climatic battle with him and he grows to a huge size, all he does is spam fireballs at you as you ignore him and frantically smash locks into a big floating cube. It is a bit anticlimactic to be honest. I can see why he never made it to the pantheon of iconic Fighting Fantasy bad guys. There are much better wizards out there, easily forgettable.
Menagerie -
As well as the usual bunch we do get quite a few different types of creature. What is disappointing though is the lack of descriptions. I would love to know more about the Black Feeler Beast or the Beast of Fury. Or the Thing!
We do get a lot of Dragonmen -
 |
| They get a bad press but you would be annoyed too if people kept stealing your gems! |
 |
| Some good old fashioned bridge orcs. Guarding, yep a bridge. Ironically you run right past them and this is them catching up. |
 |
| Do not try and fight the Giant, he is a big dude! Poor dwarfs need a new boat. |
 |
| The giants cave is infested by Gremlins. |
 |
| And you can steal the Marsh Goblins treasure. |
As I said, not a lot of illustrations for encounters which is a shame. I would have liked to see Jinxana who seems to be the main mage warrior. Said mage warriors appear in the second half of the adventure and it is better if you have a wand to take them on.
The warrior on the front cover is Kraagar and his two headed snake is probably more dangerous than him with its fire, which seems to ignore black cubes.
You also get to fight yourself! Which is probably the most dangerous combat in the book. But a special shout out to the Schizoid Genie. He wants to be your friend, then attacks you, then is very sorry as you run away. Not sure he would make it in 2026!
Entertaining Deaths -
It is quite hard to die in this book by making a bad choice. Most of the deaths involve failing a luck roll or running out of stamina trying to find footholds etc.
Pete's Corner -
"Even I finished this one!"
This review took so much longer than planned. The reason for that was trying to map it took me bloody ages. I was driving home from work thinking, got an evening of trying to map Fangs of Fury in front of me. The book feels massive. I know its only 400 paragraphs but for some reason I just felt that it keeps going. I ended up with 6 different tabs on my spreadsheet. What I quickly realised was that basic directions did not matter. Turn left or right and the only difference would be one paragraph extra and then you would end up in the same place. Go down the beanstalk to escape the giant or keep running into the cave, both lead to the Gremlins. And do not even try and make any sense of the siege. Although that could be excused as its constantly in flux. I HATED mapping this. But I do get it, it let Luke Sharp tell a longer story.
Bizarrely, even with the above, it is not linear. There are many different ways to go and complete this book, the single true path is non existent which I have to applaud. It adds the replay factor to the book. And it needs it as the difficulty is very low. As I discovered in my playthrough, you do not need to learn the language, or how to use the key, or even have a key! You can even acquire a lock pick with the number 18 on it! Enemies are all very low skill and you get extremely generous stamina refreshes throughout. This is one of the books that can say it does not matter what initial rolls you get, it is possible. But it felt too easy to me. I should never have been able to win at the end just by randomly guessing. Am I actually complaining about a Fighting Fantasy book being too easy!? Madness, what has the world come to?
The mechanics were also mixed. I do love the bracelet and the walls. He used the same in Daggers of Darkness but it worked better here. I actually felt I was going to run out of time. Now it looks like that would be quite a rare occurrence but it certainly had me worried in my playthrough which added some great tension. Having the white cubes in the artwork was very interactive as well and a super idea, it had me trailing through them all checking. I always wanted (still do) to get to illustrations and this rewarded you for it. The whole Zen cube thing was a bit odd though.
But some of Luke Sharps more frustrating mechanics make a return. Lots of random dice rolling for horses speeds and foothold locations and number of crossbow bolts. I hate the randomness and I feel like I am a broken record but we have stats, use them! The only thing that mitigates it from other times *cough* Chasms of Malice *cough* are that they do not cost you the game with a failed roll and they can also be avoided. Still, not a fan. The worst offender though is this puzzle game -
Ono-Maki will teach you the secret language, but only if your rolls are good enough! To be fair you can figure it out from the schoolroom but still, my enlightenment levels should not be random dice rolls. Speaking of the hidden language, I do like this. It is not necessary but boy does it help. My partner leaned over at one point and she asked why the book had dancing men in it. I had to explain it was a type of semaphore code. She was not having it and insisted they had pom poms and then that got stuck in my head.
Luke's writing certainly got better and I do like the story here. The monks of Wazzari are weird but they are something new at least. His strength is certainly world building but I particularly liked how things were changing independent of your adventure. For example the Knights you are trying to find get killed during the adventure off screen and a trap is laid for you. Instead the monks have to come up with a new plan. The world feels fleshed out and the it makes sense (well apart from how the dragons are getting their flames from a volcano which is quite some distance away). The descriptive writing is not at a Portal of Evil level, but its still much better. I think Luke would write a good novel rather than a gamebook. Although I have not heard the term guts for gauntlets before, who would make gauntlets out of guts? I do have to call out the final encounter though as its not abundantly clear that its the right paragraph. There should have been something along the lines of you get the right lock and the cube opens or something.
The only thing I would say though is that it was not that long ago we were breaking through a siege line. We did the same in Battleblade Warrior and we only had 7 books in-between. Although it was a lot harder to get through this siege! After I finished my playthrough I did a bit of research (reading the entry in You are the Hero) and discovered that Luke wanted to write another book and submitted but editor Marc Gascoigne did not like his writing style so this was his last one and he is still bitter. Well maybe you should not have ripped his siege idea from his book!
I do enjoy a traitor mechanic, I know its been done before, but I do not mind some repetition with this idea. I have not figured out a traitor though by finding his expenses before. It really did make me chuckle.
As mentioned before, the interactive art is a great (I have never seen Tasks of Tantalon) but I do feel the art is just average. We have been spoilt recently and while its fine, there is nothing really amazing and in some places feels a bit cartoonish for me. I have since also read that Dave Gallagher's deadlines were really tight, and it shows in places.
Jaxartes was a bit disappointing for me, I just never really clicked with him. I found him a bit incompetent and he reminded me more of a Saturday morning cartoon villain (ill get you next time Gadget!). It is hard 39 books in to make yet another evil wizard stand out against the crowd, he just kind of felt that he was just around rather than than a dangerous threat.
I hate mazes, but I will let this one slide as its quite small and you can get a map.
All in all I found this one ok. The parts I liked I really enjoyed but it kept being dragged down in places. Which pretty much makes it average for me. Luke certainly got better as he went but I think his peak was Daggers of Darkness and this one would be second. Not a bad one by any means but nothing exceptional either. I probably would have enjoyed it more if the mapping did not descend into a chore. And how did it go from the impossibility of Chasms to beating both Daggers and Fangs first time? Difficulty probably needs to be balanced just a bit more in the middle. Maybe if Luke was given that one more book, but we will never know.
Score - 5 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment