The Eye of Winter's Fury (92 page)

The monk takes his turn with an almost wearisome air, tossing the stone that he picked back onto the discard pile. You wonder if he’s already got a winning hand or is simply bluffing. It is now your move.

647

Several of your dogs take a tumble, slamming into the front of your sled and dragging other members of your team with them. The sudden collision forces your sled to lurch out from underneath you, sending you flying across the ice. You crash down in a bruised heap, the remains of your sled showering down around you.

Unfortunately, you have failed to complete the race and are now disqualified from the tournament. Replace the keyword
rookie
with
underdog
. Return to the map to continue your adventure.

648

The moment you pick up the book, you hear a grating sound from the walls of the room. Suddenly the floor begins to lower, carrying you past the surrounding bookshelves and down into a dark, cobwebbed recess.

With a sudden lurch you come to a halt, facing an immense door of black stone. Three large keyholes stare vacantly back at you from its face, inviting you to insert a key. The table begins to sparkle with motes of magic then, in a flash of dark brilliance, the books are swept away to be replaced by three rings of keys. All around you other keys start to appear, on the floor, on the chairs, on the table.

You recognise the puzzle from the storybook, but there is one element missing . . .

Then you hear the hissing sound from above.

The ceiling has become a whirling mass of dark smoke, and from it seven giant snake-heads are stretched forward, their mouths held open to reveal venomous black fangs. The smoky mass descends towards you, promising a painful death unless you can open the door in time to escape.

Quickly, you grab the three rings of keys. Each key has a number engraved on its head. You remember from the book that in order to solve Theomus’ puzzle, the hero had to work out which key was missing from each set.

Work out the missing number from each sequence (represented by the question mark). Add up the three separate numbers to give you an overall total. Turn to this entry number to see if you solved the puzzle. If the entry you turn to is incorrect, you must immediately roll on the death penalty chart (see entry
98
) and then turn to
444
.

649

To your surprise the bone key fits the lock perfectly. After a few twists and turns, there is a click and the lid comes open.

Inside the box you discover two clay gourds wrapped in cloth and an odd-shaped metal device, flickering with magic. If you wish you may take any/all of the following items:

Pleased with your finds, you retrieve the
skeleton key
, then continue your journey. Turn to
2
.

650

You place the ‘three of swords’ on the discard pile and pick a new stone from the bag. You have gained the ‘four of stars’.

You have the following stones:

The monk takes his turn, then waits for you to make your next move.

651

It is a long and gruelling battle, but your dogged persistence pays off – the dragons’ magic is finally dispelled. You watch with relief as their rotted bodies collapse into clouds of bones and dust, which plume away into the darkness below.

Congratulations! For defeating the dragons, you may now help yourself to one of the following rewards:

If you are sailing on the
Naglfar
, turn to
48
. If you are flying with Nidhogg the dragon, turn to
542
.

652

The herd follow an instinctive pattern. They run for several hundred yards, looking to put distance between themselves and their perceived threat. But once this has been achieved they settle back to grazing. By watching Desnar lay his traps ahead of where he thinks the muttok will run, you begin to understand the Skard’s tactics. He uses his javelins to take down weaker members of the herd, sending the muttok into flight once again. He then races alongside the startled animals, looking to take down as many as he can with his javelins
while the hidden traps lame the forerunners, making them easy prey.

This hunting challenge is played over seven rounds. Each round has two stages:

Hidden traps : Decide if you will place your traps to the east, west or south of the herd. Decide where Desnar will place his (using one of the two remaining locations). Then roll a die. On a or result, the herd go west; or the herd go east; or the herd go south. Whoever’s traps were placed in that direction, roll a die to discover how many muttok fell victim to the traps. (If you are a trapper you may add 1 to this result.)

Race the herd : Using your javelins, you sprint along the flanks of the herd, looking for any stragglers to bring down. Roll two die and add your speed score to the total. For each result over 10, you spear one muttok. (If your total was 15 you would have speared 5 muttok.) Results of 10 or less means you were unsuccessful. Repeat this for Desnar, using a speed of 6.