existential questions regarding Wolf's Bane

[bleh]

hi to all

here i have two questions concerning my favorite character:
- knowing lone wolf's name writes kor skarn, could someone here who'd happen to be in touch with the author ask him how he'd translate wolf's bane?
- as the lone wolf's nasty alter-ego, can we assume wolf bane beats the crap out of the toughest darklords, why not even vashna?

thx if you can help

[Zipp]

While I'm not sure how existential these are, I can attempt to answer the second one.

In terms of power, Wolf's Bane should be equal (actually a little stronger) than Lone Wolf. So the immediate assumption would be that he could easily kill the darklords. But now let's look at why Lone Wolf was able to defeat them.

First off, LW (let's get dangerous) has the Sommerswerd, the utlimate tool of asskicking. Wolf's Bane does not have a goodly weapon with which to strike down anything evil. Then too, many of the darklord fights occur wqhen the darklords aren't feeling so peppy, giving Lone Wolf a second advantage. Take into account also that combat scores are seriously inflated in the GM quests, and you've got your answer. Wolf's Bane, even if he wanted to, wouuld probably not be able to kill the Darklords.

[bleh]

so you think wolf bane can only win if taking advantage of a peculiar context... well that's quite a disappointing surmise

Wolf's Bane should be equal (actually a little stronger)

last thing, what makes you think he's a little stronger?

[Black Cat]

naar77 said:

last thing, what makes you think he's a little stronger?

That's easy: when you fight him, the text says that you have a Combat Ratio of -4 (unless you have a small special item that can be found only in this book).

[Relenoir]

Black said:

That's easy: when you fight him, the text says that you have a Combat Ratio of -4 (unless you have a small special item that can be found only in this book).

I don't think that was so much meant to make him stronger, I mean, he is more or less Lone Wolf's evil twin! I think Joe chose that ratio because it sets both combatants on the most even ground as far as potential EP loss for each round, which gives both a fairly even chance at winning.

[Zipp]

naar77 said:

so you think wolf bane can only win if taking advantage of a peculiar context... well that's quite a disappointing surmise

Hm? What do you mean by peculiar context? Maybe it's just your wording, and I'm misunderstanding. Still, my theory I believe is sound. I mean, Lone Wolf can't beat the Darklords without some sort of holy weapon, it says so right in the text. Why would Wolf's Bane be able to? Also, Vashna is a hell of a lot tougher than people give the guy credit for. He's a veritable Chaos Master, Ixiataaga, and Villains of Sommerlund rolled into one furry package.

Finally, why would Wolf's Bane ever want to kill the Darklords? First off, they are all (unless you count the Darklord from ERPG) dead by the time he rolls around. Second, while Naar's minions do kill each other from time to time, I think Naar would be a little pissed if major darklords were wiped out by his creation. And also, Wolf's Bane's entire existence is centered on killing Lone Wolf. Nobody else. Just the big guy.

[Peregrine]

naar77 said:

- knowing lone wolf's name writes kor skarn, could someone here who'd happen to be in touch with the author ask him how he'd translate wolf's bane?

Well, kor skarn is the name in Dessi legend meaning roughly "son wolf", one of the koura-tas-kai, "sons of the sun". So if tas forms genitives, then "wolf's bane" would be something-tas-skarn. Unfortunately I don't think we get any hints anywhere as to what "bane" would be.

[Ghost Bear]

Zipp said:

Finally, why would Wolf's Bane ever want to kill the Darklords?

Aww come on. This is just some fun speculation.

Wolf's Bane had a dark sword. We don't know it's actual capabilities. Can it kill a Darklord? Maybe, we don't know.

Vashna's CS and EP are given in a Club Newsletter, and if memory serves, I think they're around the 55-60 mark.

-GB

[North Star]

Well, Wolf's Bane is clearly a name invented by Naar, or taken by the cliche evil twin.
After all, Lone Wolf is the Sun Wolf (as Sun Eagle was literally that too) and Wolf's Bane is his literal bane.
*shrug*

NS.

[Zipp]

Ghost said:

Aww come on. This is just some fun speculation.

Wolf's Bane had a dark sword. We don't know it's actual capabilities. Can it kill a Darklord? Maybe, we don't know.

Vashna's CS and EP are given in a Club Newsletter, and if memory serves, I think they're around the 55-60 mark.

-GB

Alright alright. Well, for sake of argument I would then say that Wolf's Bane has a chance, possibly, against some of the Darklords, but certainly not Vashna or Zagarna, or some of the others that Lone Wolf had distinct environmental bonuses over.

[North Star]

LW only ever met five Darklords: Zagarna (whom he never actually met face-to-face), Haakon (in Vassagonia) and Taktaal, Kraagenskul and Gnaag in Helgedad no less.
If memory serves, the Darklords had the advantage!

NS.

[Peregrine]

<Nudges Gnaag with his boot. Has to scrape him off.>

Advantage? I'm not so sure about that... ;D

(Naturally this only works if you went through with the Sommerswerd...)

[bleh]

Also, Vashna is a hell of a lot tougher than people give the guy credit for.

not that much in fact, ulnar while not even with the training of a kai master pulverized him. that's why i'd like some other scumbag to replace him at top of the villain pantheon, under agarash of course.
especially since when i realized few years ago he was some sort of rat-kin fur ball while as a kid i thought he had human looks. so if not wolfs bane, ixiataaga maybe?

[North Star]

Didn't Ulnar have the Sommerswerd? Besides, it was Sun Eagle (the Baron of Toran) who was the Kai Master, not King Ulnar I (from what I remember, anyway).

NS.

[outspaced]

naar77 said:

so if not wolfs bane, ixiataaga maybe?

The Magnamund Companion says that even the Darklords were afraid to enter the icy realm of Ixia for fear of displeasing Ixiataaga. He was one of Agarash's lieutenants, I believe, thereby predating the Darklords by many centuries.