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Post by jellyfish on May 30, 2009 16:30:55 GMT
Irian, Dyce and Fenor: May survive. Actually more common that they do than that they don't when I play. Just make sure you fall into the caverns early, which you need to do if you want to acquire the Firesphere. Section 350: Your journey to Anskaven is swift, but you are saddened by your memories of the brave guides that were left behind. You have a 100% chance of sailing off home without them at Section 350. If you didn't kill them dead yourself, the assumption is that they didn't make it back in time before the ship had to sail due to the ice pack closing in.
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Post by Wise Eagle on May 30, 2009 16:33:04 GMT
Being left behind they will be able to survive if they can make it to Ljuk, which they should be able to do.
They do not necessarily die because of this.
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Post by dugain on May 30, 2009 17:22:40 GMT
I think the Talisman helps you at some point if you run out of WP. I go with the Laumspur though. Although on my first playing, I tood the Jewelled Dagger because I thought it'd be pretty. It ended up going unused because of the hefty penalty for using a non-Wizard's Staff weapon. Does it specify that you need to apply the non-Staff penalty when using the dagger? It would be a ridiculously useless item if you merely had a -5CS (or whatever) penalty when using it instead of -6CS. I always thought of it as a magic weapon that negates any fighting deficiencies that you have. You just can't shoot any pretty energy beams or magnify damage like you can with the Staff. So CS 19 with Staff would = CS 20 with dagger. +1 CS isn't gamebreaking, and deciding which weapon to use adds some strategy to combat. Also, cheating or no: if you drop to 0 WP with the Talisman, just take it off. Then put it back on! Automatic + 2 WP regeneration!
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Post by bittermind on May 31, 2009 1:22:03 GMT
Ah, I forgot about Banedon. In fairness though, he rarely accompanies Lone Wolf in his adventure.
Book 5: he's there for about a quarter of the book, max, before he goes searching for Tipasa. Book 9: I got separated from him pretty early last time I played through. In Tahou for 5 minutes; arrested, didn't see him again until the end of the book (and I realise there's not a big difference if you stick with him as long as possible). Book 12: Cameo only, at the beginning. Book 14: Appears at the end only - though potentially hauls your rear end out of the fire against Cadak's beastie.
Other books: appears, maybe, but just barely.
Nice to know that New Order Grand Masters don't carry the same curse of death as Lone Wolf, though. Still only played about half of those books...
And I think the guides in Book 3 are definitely Costa del Blowfly.
That means 'dead'.
I've never had a gripe against the endings of the Grey Star books. In book 1, hundreds of Cave Mantiz are boiling out of the ground. Makes sense to run away. The only problem is - and this comes up in one or two of the LW books - if you kill your opponent in the first round or two, before you have a chance to evade.
In book 3... you have enough indicators to tell you what's going on, I think. For example - you zap the Jhaksa; you lose half your Endurance.
I remember, my first time playing through Grey Star 3, I definitely figured out something funky was going on. Picked the right options. Won through.
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Post by jellyfish on May 31, 2009 1:27:39 GMT
In book 1, hundreds of Cave Mantiz are boiling out of the ground. Makes sense to run away. The only problem is - and this comes up in one or two of the LW books - if you kill your opponent in the first round or two, before you have a chance to evade. Hmm, you're right. In Section 154 you instadie if you kill the Mantiz in the first round. You should be allowed to evade at any time.
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Post by bittermind on May 31, 2009 1:31:28 GMT
Can think of at least one occasion when the same problem comes up in Lone Wolf: -
Enter Tahou in Book 9. Get into a scuffle with the soldiers in the inn, 5 minutes after you arrive.
You have no problem with these stalwart defenders of the city; you decide to evade (like that, you don't get arrested either).
But you instant-kill them in round 1, before the 'evade' option appears. Oops. Damned awesome rolls...
And goto prison.
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Post by bittermind on Jun 2, 2009 9:51:51 GMT
Book 3: Beyond the Nightmare Gate.
Well, I sailed through this book. Very often literally - that Ethetron is quite a speedy gizmo. I even found that wondrous 'no combat' route. Takes a little common sense, nothing more than that. Very calming.
One curious point - sometimes in the Lone Wolf books, and in every Grey Star book, you get a story that immediately follows on from the previous book. The question that comes up is, 'do you restore your Endurance to maximum' (Willpower too, in the case of Grey Star)? And often, this takes care of itself - at the end of The Dungeons of Torgar, you get hold of a Lorestone. And so, max Endurance. Same thing at the end of The Prisoners of Time. Dawn of the Dragons follows on from The Deathlord of Ixia, but there is some time inbetween, travelling cross-country. So, healing could be permitted. Especially if you take Magnakai Curing skills into account.
As for Grey Star, you fall into a 3-day healing sleep at the beginning of The Forbidden City. So, healing. And at the end of Beyond the Nightmare Gate, you get hold of the Moonstone. So, healing and supercharging, even.
But between GS 2 and GS 3, there seems no opportunity for healing. Book 3 starts right on the tail of Book 2, but there's no special reason for healing inbetween - you just pass through a Shadow Gate, which, if anything, should drain you of Endurance. I reset my scores to max anyway - maybe seeing Tanith again caused some sort of spontaneous regeneration. As it turned out, I could have carried through my scores from the end of Book 2, and still won through Book 3.
So... through the Shadow Gate, and reunited with Tanith. Much implied hugging. And out into the Daziarn. Ignored Drear - he just saps your Willpower (and my fear of possible insta-death was making me a little paranoid).
The tower of the Academicians. They'd make a nice character class in the roleplaying game, if they weren't all barking. Circumnavigated the tower - to the left - and got through the door. Took a couple of the animal keys, though I'm not sure if they do anything. They didn't for me, anyway. I let Tanith carry them.
Kinda fun to wander about with Tanith. Nice to have an (implied) love interest in the gamebooks. And yet... didn't get much of a sense of her presence here. She's much prettier than, say, Urik. But Urik at least had a strong personality. He had dialogue. He wasn't limited to one-liners like, 'Quickly, it's right behind us'.
Anyway, the tower. Avoided 'even-tempered heads and swords'. The room of mirrors, and the one-eyed petrification monster. Survived all of that. Kind of curious about what would've happened if I'd continued up the stairs rather than going into the room of mirrors... but that'll be my next play-through, maybe.
Barking mental Acadmicians, and then I was strongarmed into a minor quest that I didn't really want to go on. Bit annoyed at that. Not a great deal of choice, here...
I was a bit nervous about flying around in the Ethetron. Was worried about smashing it into the ground and getting myself murderised. I reiterate my previous tip: stay close to ground level in these gamebooks. One big difference between this book and the LW books - flying the Ethetron, I was asked a couple of times, 'Add the total of your Combat Skill and Willpower scores... If this total is greater than X, turn to...'
So I automatically passed those bits. In Lone Wolf, that would've been a random number roll, +2 if you have Huntsmastery. And you probably would've died if you missed the roll.
Okay, I'll skip along here... The Singing City, I took the path of openness and non-violence. Back to the Academicians, 'forgot' to mention the danger of the statue I'd brought.
But sweet, somewhat bland Tanith was gone! Borne away by my evil Twin Peaks double! To the chase...
Big hands guy (I forget his name). And then the Chaosmaster. Another reason that the Grey Star books are less lethal than the Lone Wolf books - the Chaosmaster talks to Grey Star.
Reunited with sweet, mute Tanith, and face to face with my evil Jahksa twin, Grey Star. Forced to head off together.
Enjoyed my first duel with this guy. Started with a will-versus-will battle of control for the air elementals around the Ethetron. But broke that off and got in a sucker punch - with a lightning bolt - and Tanith nudged him off the flying boat. High five.
The Vale of Peace. Or the Vale of Happiness. Something like that. Put out a burning village, face off with Grey Star's Bane. He blipped out of there. And a bit of a break with the funky villagers.
Some hardcore Ethetron flying... and the Shanti temple. A Trianon, whatever that means (though I once went to a restaurant that had that same name... maybe I'll wikipedia it). Ignored the Shianti illusions, and found the Moonstone.
Even my first time through, I figured out that I wasn't supposed to start beating on evil Grey Star. Plus sweet, pretty Tanith kept bleating warnings in my ear. A possibility - is she an evil Jahksa too, sent to stop me pounding on my double? But no, I decided to trust her. I did nothing, and let evil Grey Star destroy himself. Poor, poor soulless man.
So, relatively easy. I've already gotten further than I thought I would, when I began this play-through. And onto Book 4, where I get to step up to some real magic, and where a couple of -11 Combat Ratio fights potentially await me...
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Post by bittermind on Jun 2, 2009 17:45:45 GMT
Grey Star versus Shasarak. It's on.
A quick recap: the Jahksa destroyed himself, and I managed to get a hold of the Moonstone. And, man, does that juice you up. A flat +30 to Endurance, and +50 to Willpower - even if these scores take you over your maximum.
I finished Book 3 unwounded, and I used very little Willpower (the advantage of going through a book without fighting anybody).
My scores going into Book 4: Combat Skill 19, Endurance 59, Willpower 80.
(I'm also carrying a Karmo Potion, which doubles End and WP for the duration of one fight... I think that going into a fight with an Endurance of 118 is the maximum score that a player can get in the Magnamund gamebooks. Damn, that would've made a good question in the Official Lone Wolf Quizz...)
Not quite clear if I now have a maximum Endurance of 59 - a fairly respectable score for a Kai Supreme Master, even - or if that's just a bonus that doesn't heal back, and my max Endurance stays at 29 once it's gone. Suspect it's the former, while I have the Moonstone in my possession.
Greater Magicks. All potentially useful; with five out of six known, it's more a question of which one don't I want.
I take Thaumaturgy and Theurgy, because they're just ace. Visionary seems quite cool, and I don't think I had it the last time I played through. Telergy because I don't have regular Enchantment, and I want to cover my bases. Physiurgy seems like it could be useful in a large-scale battle (I suspect there's one coming up).
I reject Necromancy. It also seems useful - especially the ability to create an impenetrable monster-proof shield. But I can compensate for that with other magicks, I think. And it niggles at my morality - commanding the dead is against Shianti law, it says. I already broke those laws once, in Book 1. Still feel guilty. And anyway, how many good necromancers can you name?
I own a fairly wide assortment of 'standard' items by this point. The more exceptional items - 3 healing potions. 3 Senara potions (+5 WP, and I don't see any reason not to drink them all right away, and boost my WP up to 95). Karmo potion. Shianti Talisman. Short Sword, a backup for my wonderful Wizard's Staff.
I think I'm ready. Hope I actually make it to Shasarak. Fairly invested in this play-through.
And away.
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Post by bittermind on Jun 10, 2009 18:07:03 GMT
GREY STAR 4: THE WAR OF THE WIZARDS
Well, we started here with some magic radio waves... the Moonstone opened up a channel to my Shianti friends and masters. And I had a choice of what to ask them - I might ask where in Magnamund they would send me, or if I might watch Shasarak to learn his plans, or just for any sage counsel they might give me.
The book didn't give me the option of asking the question foremost in my mind: Why didn't you frakkin' tell me that Shasarak was a Shianti??
Anyway...
My Shianti masters sent me into the centre of the Lissan Plane. Which is by no means the safest or most useful place to be. Far from pleased with those guys. But yes, Tanith and I - she's as chatty as ever - wandered south, looking for water.
My last time through this book I investigated the Masbaté tomb. It's a fun route through that first part of the book. But it's also awesomely dangerous - you have to fight the Demon Master, for one, who has a Combat Skill at least 11 points higher than yours. Exciting place, though.
But I was less suicidally inclined this time through, so I steered clear. That also gave me a chance to find those all-important Phinomel pods.
The Masbaté. And Samu. I knew all that 'I'm the last of my tribe' stuff was hogwash.
And Tanith feared leading Mother Maghri, and the Shadakine, to us. A tearful embrace and she wandered away... (sniff)
Agarash the Damned, and his damned dirty demons. I feel I sort of bumbled my way through this part of the story... I did okay, I guess. But I just, sort of... burned off Willpower unnecessarily, left myself open to wounding. I think that going into this book with godawfully high WP and End made me a little blasé about my tactics - who needs cunning, when you're all-powerful, right? Still, I could've done better here, closing the portal, leading the demons into the Shadakine forces.
Plus I was worried about losing my Simar steed. Which wasn't the best tactic, as it turned out. The guy cantered about, spoiled my aim. Plus I'm not really sure where Grey Star learned to ride. The Isle of Lorn has streams made of gems, sure... but I don't remember any mention of ponies.
I joined Sado and the Freedom Guild of Karnali. Happy to see those guys. Some more scrapping as we retreated (unnecessary, but fun), and then I led my boys into the evil Forest of F-something.
Potions, and potions. Alchemy and Theurgy are just brill. I made a potion of Alether and one or two others... I made a potion of teleportation. How amazing is that? And I enchanted a pool with my Phinomel pods. Dipped my Staff inside.
It enchanted my Wizard's Staff. I have a Wizard's Staff that gives me +9 CS. I have a +9 CS Short Sword too.
Let's skip ahead a bit... I met the Kazim - has anybody ever been dumb enough to actually attack those? Battle, battle in the dark. Destructo-Wizard. But we won, and without much difficulty.
Sado and Samu and I led our boys on Shadaki. But, shock! Evil undead warriors bursting out of the ground!
Cooler, even, than when Vonotar did a similar thing. For two reasons: 1) these guys can only be hurt by magic weapons, 2) our own dead comrades reanimated and turned against us.
Quite a wizard, that Shasarak.
I quaffed my potion of teleportation, and went to get him.
My first time through my book I really feared this guy. I held back a LOT of Willpower so that I could take him on. And, I mean, I really love this guy, as a villain - he's my fave Magnamund baddie, by far.
His only problem is, he's not so hard to take down.
And so. We fought one another as Agarash the Damned watched us. I made a magic shield about myself, and burned him with the Moonstone's light. He fired a bolt of black fire at me - and I blocked it, but it snuffed out my wonderful Moonstone.
And then we duelled.
With my newly-enchanted Wizard's Staff, my Combat Skill was 28. My homebrew potion of Alether took it up to 30, the equal of Shasarak's.
He couldn't beat me. Our Combat Ratio was 0. My Endurance was much higher than his. And I could multiply my damage.
And I enjoyed this fight. I wanted to stretch it out. I threw only 1 WP point into my first and second attacks.
I rolled some amazing stats when I created this Grey Star - 9 for Combat Skill, and 9 for Endurance. That luck returned to me, here. I rolled '9' for my first combat round, and battered him down to 14 Endurance. I rolled '9' for my second round too, and battered him down to 3 End.
And I wanted to finish him with some style, so I threw 10 WP points into what could only be my final attack.
I rolled '9' again. And I beat him down to -107 End. I figure that last strike probably threw him in the air quite a ways.
But it wasn't an instant kill. Beaten, he tried to claw his way through the portal, into Agarash the Damned's plane of torment. He would become Shasarak the Damned, and he would liberate Agarash, releasing him to destroy Magnamund. And I went to finish him, but Agarash destroyed both out Wizard's Staves, Shasarak's and my own, reducing them to ashes.
And so I tried to close the portal. But Shasarak made it through. In a way, I'm glad he did. He's too amazing a villain to be properly dead forever.
One last burst of energy to close that door, and save Magnamund from Agarash. I poured all my energy, all my Endurance, all my Willpower into the effort...
...and victory, and Section 350. Whoops - section 360, here.
I woke surrounded by Tanith, and by my friends. Marriage, rulership, a kingdom await.
And a footnote, even, 'The Passing of the Shianti', which I've never read before. Are we to take this as Magnamund canon - that Grey Star returned the Moonstone to the Shianti? Perhaps Naar would prise it not from him, but from them, after all.
And here we are... I made it through all four Grey Star books, without backtracking, without fudging a single roll. Honestly, I didn't think I could.
Feels good.
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Post by moonblade on Jun 10, 2009 23:34:03 GMT
Great job. And great read! You should novelize it.
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kai
Kai Lord
Posts: 59
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Post by kai on Jan 29, 2019 1:42:25 GMT
That is just awesome.
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