The Eye of Winter's Fury (78 page)

In this combat you roll against the ice wraith’s attack speed. If you are successful, then you may strike against a mirror shard – or the wraith, if all three mirrors have been destroyed.

If you manage to defeat this spectral menace, turn to
449
.

566

A service hatch opens in the wall to reveal three weapons, each chained and padlocked to a metal frame.

‘The fire wand is new this season,’ says Jackson. ‘The spear is a discontinued line, so you won’t see many of them around. Collector’s item, and you heard it ’ere first. The claw – well, that speaks for itself, don’t
it? I seen Skards scale whole mountains with those backscratchers.’

The following items are available for 60 gold crowns each:

You may continue to purchase items from the trader (turn to
151
), discuss something else (turn to
685
) or leave (return to the quest map).

567

You leap over the rocks, surprising the cowering goblin. He lowers his shield a fraction too late, your weapon piercing through his ragged leather armour. As the goblin goes squealing to the ground, you turn to face the others.

‘Me arm – it’s stuck!’ The largest goblin is trying desperately to free himself while his two smaller companions look on, torn between running or staying.

‘Wha’ yer waitin’ for?’ growls the leader. ‘Just stick ’im!’

The two goblins pull rusty knives from their belts then hurry to attack, while the leader continues to grunt and curse as he tries to pull his arm free. It is time to fight:

	Special abilities
	Stick ’im! : At the end of each combat round, you must take 1 damage ignoring armour from each surviving goblin (not including Grubnose).
	Grr, ’tis ain’t fair : (*) Grubnose has his arm stuck. He will still be able to attack and defend, but will do so with a speed of 3. At the start of the fourth combat round, Grubnose will have freed his arm – raising his speed to 5 for the remainder of the combat.

If you manage to defeat these motley scavengers, turn to
583
.

568

Skoll’s warhammer glows with golden light, each spinning blow sending the hounds flying across the wrecked hall. Your own weapons beat and pummel at Syn’s frozen armour, weakening her magical defences. At last she stumbles to her scaled knees, head bowed.

‘Have mercy,’ she hisses.

You stay your weapons, hesitating . . .

Then the demon lifts its cold-blue eyes. You catch the malign smile splitting the malformed face – and too late you realise your fatal mistake. The demon lunges, teeth and claws reaching for your throat. Then a hellish scream fills your ears.

You blink, wondering if it is your own pained cry you hear – but no, the demon’s claws are grasping futilely in the air, the body seized by violent convulsions. The creature arches its back, the head twisting round to snap at something it cannot reach. A sword. It has been driven into the back of the demon’s neck, angled straight into its spine. Anise gives the blade another push, teeth clenched as every ounce of her remaining strength is put to the task. You hear the cracking of bone and the liquid noise of muscle and tendons being severed. Then the demon flops forward, the light in its eyes fading to darkness. Anise glares down at the corpse.

‘That was for my mother,’ she spits.

For defeating the demon, you have gained 50 gold crowns and one of the following rewards:

If you are a mage, turn to
431
. Otherwise, turn to
602
.

569

Raising your hands you trace the circular patterns with your fingers, connecting the lines and whorls with the magic that now flows through you. The runes start to flicker and then glow, illuminating a trail to the centre circle, where blue-black energies crackle above the podium. For a brief moment you glimpse some creature trapped within the bright maelstrom – a spinning tornado of dust and rock, with two crimson jewels for eyes – then it is gone. The energy sparks out and the runes dim.

When you walk over to the podium you discover that your item is now rattling against the stone, quivering with the pent-up force of the earth elemental. (Congratulations! Your chosen weapon/item of equipment now has the
knockdown
ability.) When you have updated your hero sheet, turn to
684
.

570

The hooded ghost opens his fist and lets his stones roll onto the table. They all land face up, displaying a perfect house and a crown. ‘Royal Hoard,’ whispers a voice from beneath the cowl. ‘You lose.’

The guard looks at the symbols in horror, his mouth hanging open. ‘No . . . it can’t be . . .’ Then suddenly he starts to tremble and convulse, his hands going to his throat. You watch dumbfounded as he is lifted up out of his chair, feet kicking above the ground. ‘No! Please!’ he manages to gasp. ‘No!’

The hooded figure stands, his dark form seeming to stretch and grow larger. Bony hands reach for the choking guard, the cowl finally falling back to reveal a grinning skull.

There is a scream – then both ghosts vanish.

You look to Anise, still shocked by what you have witnessed.

‘I suppose that could have gone better,’ she sighs, turning one of the stones over in her hand. Its face displays two grinning skulls. ‘Doubt things will end any better for us, unless we reach that signal fire.’

You may now search the room, if you haven’t already (turn to
310
) or leave through the open doorway (turn to
188
).

571

You break out of the corkscrew, hot on the tail of the lead racer. The walls of the prison are now less than a mile to the south. With none of the other competitors in sight, you realise that you are in second place and have a chance of taking first!

Cracking your whip, you urge your dog-team alongside the other sled, looking to overtake. To your surprise, the other racer turns out to be the girl with the blue-dyed hair. She blows you a kiss before swinging her sled into yours, the runed spikes cutting jagged strips out of your frame. Lines cross as the dog-teams snap and tussle with one another – both sleds locked in a desperate scrap for pole position.

You will need to take a challenge test using your
toughness
attribute:

If you are successful, turn to
539
. If you fail, turn to
694
.

572

You step across the line of runes. As you suspected, the man is clearly panic-stricken and sleep-deprived, and the magic protection he thought he had created amounts to little more than a snap of lightning, which causes you no ill-harm.

Seeing that his magic has failed, the mage lunges past you. You manage to grab an arm, but the spindly man squirms free of your grip. Skoll doesn’t even attempt to obstruct his escape, moving aside to let the mage past. He catches your eye and merely shrugs his shoulders.

Against the wall, where the man had taken refuge, you discover a small bundle of objects. As well as 20 gold crowns, you find one of the following:

In silence you head back into the tunnels, your mind still turning over the mage’s words. Perhaps you are not as alone in these caves as you first thought. Turn to
750
.

573

‘I’m Caul Flenchard, trapper for the White Wolf Company.’ The man wipes his bloody hands against his leather coat. ‘I chose to stay on for the winter – get me some good winter hides, swell the coffers then drink it dry at Ryker’s. Was a good plan, ’till I stumbled on those explorers in the canyon – like lost children they were, no clue of the risk they’d taken on, staying here for the winter. Seemed convinced their team were still alive . . .’

You frown. ‘Odd, they never mentioned you. How long have you been here?’

Caul puts a hand to his brow. ‘Can’t say as I rightly know. Time has a way of losing itself around here – a week, perhaps.’

‘A week?’ Your raise your eyebrows in surprise. ‘Have you not tried to leave? I found a way in, just over . . .’

The trapper shakes his head. ‘I want to know what’s going on here. I went deeper, but got chased out by a bunch of monsters.’ He glances down at his blood-stained hands. ‘I ain’t ready to quit. ’

574

You place the gold on the table (deduct fifty gold crowns from your hero sheet). The monk shakes the bag and then chooses five stones. You follow his lead, hoping that you have the skill and knowledge to best this expert player.

If you have the book
Stones & Bones
in your backpack, turn to
401
. Otherwise, you will have to rely on guesswork and luck to win the game. Turn to
511
.

575

The smoke makes you feel dizzy. Shapes become indistinct, blurring at the edges. You try and stand but your hands fumble uselessly at your sides. Sura is chanting something, a mantra that fills your head with a pounding pain. Nanuk is growling and seething – you feel him raking claws through the air, trying to resist her power as he is tugged from the Norr, his spirit spilling into your body.