Trail of the Wolf Read online

  ‘So where is Lone Wolf now?’ you asked, anxiously.

  ‘He is imprisoned in Gazad Helkona,’ replied Rimoah, ‘and he is in great peril. Only his Supreme Master Disciplines and the power of the Sommerswerd, his magical blade, have spared him from death by the hand of Naar's foul creation. Your leader is brave and resourceful, but I fear that Zorkaan's frequent attacks will weaken and eventually destroy Lone Wolf unless he is rescued quickly.’

  Selflessly you volunteered to attempt such a rescue. Rimoah and Banedon were impressed by your courage and your confidence, and readily they agreed to help you achieve this difficult task. Rimoah informed you that Gazad Helkona is occupied by Xaol and his cohorts, which comprise Hammerland bandits and remnants of the army of Darklord Chlanzor, the former ruler of this city-fortress.

  ‘The stronghold is located in a remote volcanic region, surrounded by a petrified forest from which it takes its name. It is a difficult place to reach and assault by force,’ said Rimoah.

  ‘But where an army may fail, a single Kai may triumph,’ interjected Banedon, wisely.

  At length you discussed the rescue and agreed upon a plan of action. Banedon will transport you aboard his flying ship Cloud-dancer to a valley in the Shezar Hills, situated fifty miles to the south of Gazad Helkona. Here you will disembark and then approach the fortress on foot. Banedon will remain aboard his flying ship, safely out of sight of Xaol's lookouts, where he will await a telepathic signal from Lone Wolf to confirm his rescue. Upon receiving this signal, he will bring Cloud-dancer into the centre of Gazad Helkona in order to collect you both. If you are unable to complete your mission to set Lone Wolf free, you must make your own way back to the flying ship.

  During your mission, Lord Rimoah and the Elder Magi will use their combined powers to disrupt the channel of communication that exists between Naar and his agent Xaol. Rimoah is confident that this action will serve to prevent Xaol from detecting the arrival of Cloud-dancer, and it will also help to keep secret your approach to his grim stronghold.

  The Game Rules

  You keep a record of your adventure on the Action Chart.

  During the years you have spent in training at the Kai Monastery, you have devoted yourself to further developing your fighting prowess (COMBAT SKILL) and physical stamina (ENDURANCE). Before you begin this New Order adventure you need to measure how effective your training has been. To do this take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it onto the Random Number Table. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero.

  The first number that you pick from the Random Number Table in this way represents your COMBAT SKILL. Add 25 to the number you picked and write the total in the COMBAT SKILL section of your Action Chart (i.e. if your pencil fell on the number 7 in the Random Number Table you would write in a COMBAT SKILL of 32). When you fight, your COMBAT SKILL will be pitted against that of your enemy. A high score in this section is therefore desirable.

  The second number that you pick from the Random Number Table represents your powers of ENDURANCE. Add 30 to this number and write the total in the ENDURANCE section of your Action Chart (i.e. if your pencil fell on the number 8 on the Random Number Table you would have 38 ENDURANCE points).

  If you are wounded in combat you will lose ENDURANCE points. If at any time your ENDURANCE points fall to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over. Lost ENDURANCE points can be regained during the course of the adventure, but your number of ENDURANCE points cannot rise above the number you have when you start an adventure.

  If you have successfully completed previous adventures in the Lone Wolf New Order series (Books 21–24), you can carry your current scores of COMBAT SKILL and ENDURANCE points over to this adventure.1 You may also carry over any Special Items, Kai Weapon, normal Weapons, and Backpack Items you had in your possession at the end of your last adventure, and these should be entered on your new Action Chart.

  Playing Tip: You may use a 10-sided die instead of the Random Number Table if you find it more convenient.

  [1] If you have completed any previous Lone Wolf New Order adventures, remember to choose an additional Grand Master Discipline and add +1 to your basic COMBAT SKILL and +2 to your basic ENDURANCE for each adventure you successfully completed (cf. Grand Master Disciplines).

  Your Kai Name

  It has long been the tradition of your élite warrior caste to bestow a new name upon each young novice when they complete their first year's training at the Kai Monastery. Kai names are chosen by senior Kai Masters with the aim of reflecting the individual strengths and qualities of each novice.

  You may create your own Kai name for yourself, or you can generate a Kai name at random using the name tables below. To generate a Kai name, pick a number from the Random Number Table and consult Table A. The name which corresponds to the number you have picked is the first part, or prefix, of your Kai name. Now pick a second number from the Random Number Table and consult Table B. The name which corresponds to the number you have picked is the second part, or suffix, of your Kai name. Put the prefix and the suffix together and you have your own personal Kai name.

  Table ATable B

  (Kai name prefix)(Kai name suffix)

  0 = Swift 0 = Blade

  1 = Sun 1 = Fire

  2 = True 2 = Hawk

  3 = Bold 3 = Heart

  4 = Moon 4 = Friend

  5 = Sword 5 = Star

  6 = Wise 6 = Dancer

  7 = Storm 7 = Helm

  8 = Rune 8 = Strider

  9 = Brave 9 = Shield

  New Order Kai Grand Master Disciplines

  Kai and Magnakai Disciplines

  During your distinguished rise to the ranks of the New Order of Kai Grand Masters, you have become proficient in all of the basic Kai and Magnakai Disciplines. These Disciplines provide you with a formidable arsenal of natural abilities which will serve you well. A brief summary of your skills is given below:

  Weaponmastery

  You are proficient with all close combat and missile weapons. You are a master of unarmed combat and suffer no COMBAT SKILL loss when fighting bare-handed.

  Animal Control

  You are able to communicate with most animals and have limited control over hostile creatures. You can use woodland animals as guides and you are able to block a non-sentient creature's sense of taste and smell.

  Curing

  You are able to restore ENDURANCE points lost as a direct result of combat. You may restore 1 ENDURANCE point for every numbered section of the book you pass through in which you are not involved in further combat. The maximum number of ENDURANCE points that can be restored in this way is limited to 10 per adventure.

  You also possess the ability to heal the wounds of others, and you can neutralize the harmful effects of most poisons, venoms, and toxins.

  Invisibility

  You can hide effectively in most environments, mask any sounds made during movement, and you can cause minor alterations of your own physical appearance. Also you are able to mask your own body heat and scent.

  Huntmastery

  You are an expert hunter of food in the wild. You possess great physical agility and a keen sense of vision (day and night). Your senses of hearing and smell are especially acute.

  Pathsmanship

  You are able to understand most languages, magical symbols, and hieroglyphics. You are expert at reading footprints and tracks. You have an intuitive knowledge of the compass points and can detect the threat of an enemy ambush up to a distance of 500 yards. You possess an ability to cross terrain without leaving tracks. You can converse with sentient creatures and mask yourself from psychic spells of detection.

  Psi-surge

  You are able to attack enemies using the powers of your mind. Also you can set up disruptive vibrations in inanimate objects and cause confusion in the minds of unsophisticated enemies.

  Psi-screen

  You possess strong mental defences against hypnosis, supernatural illusions, charms, hostile tele
pathy, and evil spirits. You are able to divert and re-channel some hostile psychic energy to your own ends.

  Nexus

  You can move small items by projection of your mind power. You can withstand extremes of temperature and are able to extinguish fire by force of your will alone. You have a limited immunity to flames, toxic gases, and corrosive liquids.

  Divination

  Your famous Kai Sixth Sense can warn you of imminent danger. You can detect invisible or hidden enemies, and you are able to communicate telepathically. You can recognize magic-using and/or magical creatures, detect psychic residues, and you have a limited ability to leave your corporeal body (‘spirit-walk’) for short periods.

  New Order Kai Grand Master Disciplines

  After years of martial training and study at the Kai Monastery, and by the rigorous practice of the teachings of your illustrious mentor — Kai Supreme Master Lone Wolf — you have achieved the noble rank of Kai Grand Master Senior.

  Following in the footsteps of Lone Wolf himself, you have vowed that one day you will become totally proficient in all 16 of the New Order Kai Grand Master Disciplines. By doing so successfully you will share with Lone Wolf the responsibility, the honour, and the future glory of leading the New Order Kai as a Supreme Master.

  If this is the first New Order adventure you have undertaken, then your present rank is that of Kai Grand Master Senior. This means that you have mastered four of the New Order Grand Master Disciplines listed below. It is for you to decide which four Disciplines these are. As all of the New Order Grand Master Disciplines may be of use to you at some point during your mission, pick these four skills with care. The correct use of a New Order Grand Master Discipline at the right time could save your life. When you have chosen your four Disciplines, enter them in the Grand Master Disciplines section of your Action Chart.

  Grand Weaponmastery

  This Discipline enables a New Order Grand Master to become supremely efficient in the use of all weapons. When you enter combat armed with one of your Grand Master weapons, you may add 5 points to your COMBAT SKILL. The rank of Kai Grand Master Senior, with which you begin the New Order series, means that you are skilled in the use of one of the weapons listed in the Equipment section.2 For every adventure that you complete successfully in the New Order series while possessing the Discipline of Grand Weaponmastery, you will gain proficiency with one additional weapon.

  If you have the Discipline of Grand Weaponmastery with Bow, you may add 5 points to any number you pick from the Random Number Table, when using the Bow.3

  Animal Mastery

  New Order Grand Masters have considerable control over hostile, non-sentient creatures. Also, they have the ability to converse with birds and fishes, and use them as guides.

  Deliverance (Advanced Curing)

  New Order Grand Masters are able to use their healing power to repair serious battle-wounds. If, while in combat, their ENDURANCE is reduced to 8 points or less, they can draw upon their mastery to restore 20 ENDURANCE points. This emergency ability can only be used once every 20 days.

  Assimilance (Advanced Invisibility)

  New Order Grand Masters are able to effect striking changes to their physical appearance, and maintain these changes over a period of one to three days. They have also mastered advanced camouflage techniques which make them virtually undetectable in an open landscape.

  Grand Huntmastery

  New Order Grand Masters are able to see in total darkness and they possess great natural speed and agility. They also have a superb sense of touch and taste. If you have chosen the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery as one of your skills, you will not need to tick off a Meal when instructed to eat.

  Grand Pathsmanship

  New Order Grand Masters are able to resist entrapment by hostile plants. Also they have a super-awareness of ambush, or the threat of ambush, in woods and dense forests.

  Kai-surge

  When using their psychic ability to attack an enemy, New Order Grand Masters may add 8 points to their COMBAT SKILL. For every round in which Kai-surge is used, they need only deduct 1 ENDURANCE point. Grand Masters have the option of using a weaker form of psychic attack called Mindblast. When using this lesser attack, they may add 4 points to their COMBAT SKILL without loss of ENDURANCE points (Kai-surge and Mindblast cannot be used simultaneously). New Order Grand Masters cannot use Kai-surge if their ENDURANCE score falls to 6 points or below.

  Kai-screen

  During psychic combat, New Order Grand Masters are able to construct mind-fortresses capable of protecting themselves and others. The strength and capacity of these fortresses increase as a New Order Grand Master advances in rank.

  Grand Nexus

  New Order Grand Masters are able to withstand contact with harmful elements, such as flames and acids, for upwards of an hour in duration. This ability increases as a New Order Grand Master advances in rank.

  Telegnosis (Advanced Divination)

  This Discipline enables a New Order Grand Master to spirit-walk for far greater lengths of time, and with far fewer ill effects. Duration of the spirit-walk and the protection afforded to his inanimate body increase as a New Order Grand Master advances in rank.

  Magi-magic (Old Kingdom Magic)

  Under the tutelage of Lone Wolf, you have been able to master the rudimentary skills of Old Kingdom battle-magic. These arcane skills include the use of basic Old Kingdom Spells, such as Shield, Power Word, and Invisible Fist. As you advance in rank, so will your knowledge and mastery of Old Kingdom magic increase.

  Kai-alchemy (Brotherhood Magic)

  Under the tutelage of Lone Wolf and Guildmaster Banedon (the leader of Sommerlund's Guild of Magicians), you have mastered the elementary spells of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. These spells include Lightning Hand, Levitation, and Mind Charm. As you advance in rank, so will your knowledge and mastery of Brotherhood magic increase.

  Astrology

  The celestial bodies which occupy the skies above Magnamund have long been known to affect the lives of its inhabitants. Mastery of this Discipline enables a New Order Grand Master to predict and shape the future by studying the relative positions of the Sun, the Moon, and the myriad planets and stars. The number and accuracy of these predictions increase as a New Order Grand Master advances in rank.

  Herbmastery

  Mastery of this New Order Discipline enables a Grand Master to identify readily any substance derived from living or growing organic material. He is aware of any secret uses to which an organic material may be put, and he is skilled in effecting the release of a substance's medicinal and/or magical properties.

  Elementalism

  This Discipline enables a New Order Grand Master to manipulate the four basic elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. By drawing upon individual elements that are available, or combinations thereof, he is able to detach, affix, increase, concentrate, intensify, remove, or accelerate this matter to fulfil a specific purpose, e.g. create a wall, hurl a rock, spray sand, remove air, intensify fire. The versatility of this Discipline increases as a New Order Grand Master advances in rank.

  Bardsmanship

  Through mastery of this Discipline a Kai Grand Master of the New Order becomes a multi-talented performer, proficient in the use of any musical instrument. He is able to sing or chant, recite or compose tales of legend, mimic speech or dialect, and stimulate a wide range of emotions among sentient creatures. The effect and power of his bardic abilities will steadily increase as he advances through the Grand Master ranks.

  If you successfully complete the mission as set in Book 25 of the Lone Wolf New Order series, you may add a further Grand Master Discipline of your choice to your Action Chart in Book 26. For every Grand Master Discipline you possess, in excess of the original four Disciplines you begin with, you may add 1 point to your basic COMBAT SKILL score and 2 points to your basic ENDURANCE points score. These bonus points, together with your extra Grand Master Discipline(s), your original four Grand
Master Disciplines, your Kai Weapon,4 and any other Special Items and Backpack Items that you have found and been able to keep during your adventures, may then be carried over and used in the next New Order adventure, which is called: The Fall of Blood Mountain.

  [2] Given the rules for the previous Lone Wolf books, it seems odd that a Grand Master is only allowed to choose to be proficient in one of the few Weapons listed in the Equipment section. In view of the unprecedented nature of this rule, you might decide that it is acceptable to be proficient in any of the ten Weapons that the Kai typically train to use.

  [3] The rules in the Collector's Editions state that the bonus for Grand Weaponmastery with Bow is 5. Certain sections direct the reader to use different bonuses when using a Bow, ranging from 3 to 5, if you have Grand Weaponmastery with Bow. This may be the author adjusting the Grand Weaponmastery bonus on a case-by-case basis (and therefore this bonus should be used instead of the standard bonus) or an error (and therefore all of these bonuses should be 5). It is up to you to decide, but it seems most reasonable to follow the first alternative, to replace the Grand Weaponmastery bonus with whatever bonus is mentioned in that section.