Castle Death
You are Lone Wolf — the last Kai Master of Sommerlund. Your vow to restore the Kai to their former glory takes you to the fabulous land of Dessi, a land of monsters and magicians. The sorcerers of this realm pledge to aid your quest — but they demand a price for their help. Somewhere deep within
Castle Death
lies a key to the wisdom of your ancestors. Will you find this key, or will you, like all who have entered before you, succumb to the terror that stalks the dungeons of this nightmare fortress?
Joe Dever
, the creator of the bestselling Lone Wolf adventure books and novels, has achieved world-wide recognition in three creative fields — as an award-winning author of international renown, as an acclaimed musician and composer, and as a games designer specialising in role-playing games.
On graduating from college in 1974, Joe Dever became a professional musician, and for several years, he worked in the music industry in Europe and the United States.
While working in Los Angeles in 1977 he discovered a then little-known game called ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. Although the game was in its infancy, Joe at once realised its huge potential and began designing his own role-playing games along similar conceptual lines. These first games were to form the basis of a fantasy world called Magnamund, which later became the setting for the Lone Wolf books.
Five years later, in 1982 at the Origins Game Fair, Joe won the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons World Championships in Baltimore, an event held before 16,000 people. Inspired and encouraged by his success at Origins, Joe decided to quit the music business and devote his time to writing and games design.
In 1983, after a brief spell at Games Workshop in London, he wrote
Flight from the Dark
— the first Lone Wolf interactive gamebook. His manuscript immediately attracted a frenzy of interest from three major London publishing companies, all of whom bid for world rights. Joe accepted an offer of publication from Hutchinson's (later to become Century Hutchinson Ltd; now Random House UK) and
Flight from the Dark
was first published in 1984.
This first book sold more than 100,000 copies within its first month of publication, and overseas rights were snapped up by twelve countries (including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Sweden). The success of Joe's first book laid the foundations for the future of the Lone Wolf series, which has sold millions of copies around the world.
The Lone Wolf series ended after 28 books and 14 years. Joe has continued to work in the games industry as script writer and games design consultant.
Gary Chalk
, the illustrator of the early Lone Wolf series, was born in 1952, grew up in Hertfordshire, England. Being interested in history, he began playing war games at the age of fifteen. When he graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts in design, Gary spent three years training in a studio before becoming a teacher in art and design.
Gary was working as a children's book illustrator when he became involved in adventure gaming, an interest which eventually led to the creation of several successful games. He is the inventor/illustrator of some of Britain's biggest-selling fantasy games including Cry Havoc, Starship Captain, and Battlecars (co-designed with Ian Livingstone). He is also known for his work on the very successful game, Talisman.
Gary was working at Games Workshop when Joe Dever asked him to illustrate some of his manuscript of
Flight from the Dark
. The two teamed up after that and they continued to work together until the eighth book in the series,
The Jungle of Horrors
.
Gary has also drawn the illustrations in
Redwall
and related books,
The Prince of Shadows
gamebook series, and several books which he also authored. Gary continues to enjoy war gaming and works as an illustrator and model maker.
Internet Edition published by
Project Aon
. This edition is intended to reflect the complete text of the original version. Where we have made minor corrections, they will be noted in the
Errata
.
Publication Date: 28 October 2012
Text copyright © 1986 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1986 Gary Chalk.
Distribution of this Internet Edition is restricted under the terms of the
Project Aon License
.
To all the members of the Lone Wolf Club —
may their endurance never run out!
‘I would be especially pleased if my granting of the rights to distribute my books in this way was seen as my “millennium gift” to all those devoted readers who have kept the Kai flag flying high, through all the good times, and the not-so-good. It would make me very proud indeed if this enterprise laid the foundations of a lasting legacy, securing the longevity of Lone Wolf by making my creation freely and readily accessible to current and future online generations. For them, for us, for Sommerlund and the Kai. … ’
Joe Dever
Project Aon would first like to thank Joe Dever for making this generous offering of the books that we have all loved from the beginning. We are also grateful for the generosity of Rob Adams, Paul Bonner, Gary Chalk, Melvyn Grant, Richard Hook, Peter Andrew Jones, Cyril Julien, Peter Lyon, Ian Page, Graham Round, and Brian Williams for contributing their portions of the world of Magnamund to Project Aon. We would also like to acknowledge the following members of Project Aon for their diligent work:
- Transcription
- Matthew Reynolds
- Illustration Transcription
- Jonathan Blake
Paul Haskell
Simon Osborne
Daniel Strong - XML
- Jonathan Blake
Simon Osborne
Thomas Wolmer - Alternate Illustrations
- JC Alvarez (Action Charts)
Jonathan Blake (Extramatter Charts and Tables)
Michael Hahn (Map) - Proofreading
- Michael Norton (Sections 176–210)
Simon Osborne (Sections 71–105, 246–280, and 316–350)
Matthew Reynolds (Sections 1–70, 141–175, 211–245, and 281–315)
Tony Wrigley (Sections 106–140) - Editing
- Mike Feldman
Alex Hambly
Ingo Klöcker
Mark Laird
LeRoy McSwain
Simon Osborne
Matthew Reynolds
Thomas Wolmer - Coordination
- Jonathan Blake
- Special Thanks
- Jan Charvát, Alfred Hailey, Benjamin Krefetz, David Kubecka, Dewi Morgan, Eric Rossing, Keith Sheldon, Wayne Stubbs, Denis Vald, Arthur Yin
You are the warrior, Lone Wolf, last of the Kai Masters of Sommerlund and sole survivor of the massacre that destroyed your kinsmen during a bitter war with your age-old enemies, the Darklords of Helgedad.
Many centuries have passed since Sun Eagle, the first of your kind, established the Order of the Kai. Aided by the magicians of Dessi, he completed a perilous quest to find seven crystals of power known as the Lorestones of Nyxator. With their discovery he unlocked a wisdom and strength that lay within both the Lorestones and himself. He recorded the nature of his discoveries and his experiences in a great tome called
The Book of the Magnakai
. You have discovered this lost Kai treasure and have given a solemn pledge to restore the Kai to their former glory, ensuring the security of your land in the years to come. However, your diligent study of this ancient book has enabled you to master only three of the ten Magnakai Disciplines. To fulfil your pledge, you must complete the quest first undertaken by Sun Eagle over one thousand years ago. By doing so successfully, you, too, will acquire the power and wisdom of the Magnakai that is held within the Lorestones' crystal forms.
Much of Sun Eagle's script had faded with the passing years and little remained to help you find the seven Lorestones of Nyxator. Guided by the few words that could still be deciphered, you set out upon a journey that took you to the war-torn city of Tekaro in the hostile land of Slovia. There, hidden deep in the crypt of the city's cathedral, you found the first Lorestone of Varetta. As you held the crystal triumphantly in your hand, its power was transfused into your being, and the location of the second stone formed slowly in your mind — Herdos.
The remote township of Herdos stands upon the shore of Lake Khor, high in the Xulun Mountains of Dessi. Here the Elder Magi, the magicians who rule the land, helped Sun Eagle on his quest long ago. Time has turned full circle, and once more their aid is sought by a warrior of the Kai.
‘Fate has brought you to us, Lone Wolf,’ intones Rimoah, speaker for the High Council of the Elder Magi, as you stand before them in the Tower of Truth at Elzian. ‘And our fate is bound to your quest.’
His clear voice fills the great cylindrical council chamber and the white-robed elders gathered around you respond with one voice, ‘It is so.’
Rimoah leads you to a circular dais, set like a deep well into the green marble floor. Carefully, he kneels and touches its liquid metal surface with his gloved hand. A current flows through the shimmering metal and, within its mirror-like depths, a strange vision slowly takes shape. You see a black-walled fortress set upon a rocky isle, its deep purple shadows reflecting in the dark waters of a moonlit lake.
‘You see before you Kazan-Oud. The Lorestone of Herdos rests in this castle, deep within its accursed halls. We will take you to this fortress, Lone Wolf, but you must enter alone, for our powers hold no sway over the forces that command this terrible place. In the years that have passed since Sun Eagle first came to this land, a great evil has consumed Kazan-Oud. We lack the means to destroy this evil but we have laboured to contain it, to prevent it from spreading beyond the Isle of Khor. Some of the bravest warriors of Magnamund have tried at our behest to defeat the power of Kazan-Oud, yet all have perished. But fate now brings us a Kai Master and our hearts rejoice, for the success of your quest will defeat the bane of Kazan-Oud and deliver us all from its evil shadow.’
A ripple of hopeful whispers arises from the circle of Elders when they hear you state that you will go to Kazan-Oud. As they accompany you from the council chamber to equip you for the dangerous mission that lies ahead, you ask the meaning of the words
‘Kazan-Oud’
. An uneasy silence descends on the dignified company and all eyes turn to Rimoah.
‘In the language of the Sommlending,’ he says, his voice wavering, ‘Castle Death.’
You keep a record of your adventure on the
Action Chart
.
During your training as a Kai Master you have developed fighting prowess —
COMBAT SKILL
and physical stamina —
ENDURANCE
. Before you set off on your adventure you need to measure how effective your training has been. To do this take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point with the blunt end of it onto the
Random Number Table
. If you pick 0 it counts as zero.
The first number that you pick from the
Random Number Table
in this way represents your
COMBAT SKILL
. Add 10 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 4 in the
Random Number Table
you would write in a
COMBAT SKILL
of 14). When you fight, your
COMBAT SKILL
will be pitted against that of your enemy. A high score in this section is therefore very desirable.
The second number that you pick from the
Random Number Table
represents your powers of
ENDURANCE
. Add 20 to this number and write the total in the
ENDURANCE
section of your
Action Chart
(i.e. if your pencil fell on the number 6 on the
Random Number Table
you would have 26
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 can never rise above the number you started with.
If you have successfully completed any of the previous adventures in the
Lone Wolf
series
, you can carry your current scores of
COMBAT SKILL
and
ENDURANCE
points over to Book 7. You may also carry over any Weapons and Special Items you have in your possession at the end of your last adventure, and these should be entered on your new
Action Chart
. (You are still limited to two Weapons and eight Backpack Items.)
You many choose one bonus
Magnakai Discipline
to add to your
Action Chart
for every
Lone Wolf Magnakai
adventure you successfully complete (Books 6–12).