Shrine Of The Salamander |
by Andrew Wright |
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The Story So Far... |
Lortag the Elder, Kakhabad: Its Lands and Peoples, 284 AC, The Year of the Fox, Kharé: Axiome Press. 'Thieves! Thieves in the night!' So howled Gulanti, the old High Priest of Verlang, god of the forge. And it was true. The copper-walled cave-temple had been ransacked, the idol of Verlang taken from its rightful place on the rune-embossed bronze altar. Evidence was everywhere. Numerous great, wet slimy footprints stained and criss-crossed the tiled floor of the inner sanctum. They erupted out of a gaping black hole in the wall, circled the chamber (and grabbed the Idol), and ventured straight back from whence they came. A party of priests armed with hammers and flaming torches ventured into the hole, down a long, winding tunnel that had been carefully burrowed into the rock and braced with driftwood. It opened, via a secret entrance, onto the marshy banks of the mighty Jabaji River, and the priests looked out across a drifting expanse of dark water. There, on the far and distant shore, they spied fires gleaming in the caves that dotted the great cliffs of the Earth End Coastline. 'Daddu-Yadu,' breathed the High Priest in fear (for he had accompanied the search party). 'The Croaking Caves. Lair of the Horntoads...' 'I don't understand,' you say to High Priest Gulanti, patriarch of the Copperstone Mines. 'Why leave it so obvious? It's almost like somebody else wants us to think the Horntoads did it. It could be river pirates. Smugglers from Kharé. By Lorodil! Even the Shield Maidens of Lumlé could have done it! Why Horntoads?' 'My fellow priest, sometimes things are indeed exactly what they seem,' says Gulanti. 'There is no hidden message, no secret meaning. Our Idol has magical powers, and the Horntoads desire those powers for themselves. Hence they have stolen it from us. After all, have you not heard the rumours of the Salamander that has taken up residence among them, in the shrine of Furlakk the Frog God?' You nod grimly. Only recently, a boat-captain complained to you that the Horntoad raids on river shipping had become more frequent since a Salamander had arrived at Daddu-Yadu and cloaked itself in the mantle of leadership. Salamander meaning of course the big flaming monsters from the Elemental Plane of Fire, not the small harmless amphibians of pond and lake. The important questions remained unanswered though. Why had a Salamander come to Daddu-Yadu? And how? 'And do you remember the story of the Idol itself?' says Gulanti, as if beginning a sermon. 'Verlang fired it in the molten furnaces of the City of Brass, with the help of a dozen enslaved Salamanders, the First-Spawn of their race. Perhaps one of them has merely returned to claim what it rightfully believes to be the property of its people.' 'But this is sacrilege!' you cry. "The Idol of Verlang is for the priests of the forge-god alone to treasure! It is our most holy relic!' 'That is why you are here my friend,' says Gulanti, with a calm, firm voice. 'We need you to enter the Croaking Caves, slay the Salamander, and retrieve the Idol. We need you to do it quickly too, before word leaks out that the Idol has been stolen, and the Copperstone Mines are aflame with open rebellion among the slaves and miners. You are the best at what you do. Go! And may Verlang guide both your hammer and your spells...' It is true. YOU are an adventuring forge-priest of Verlang, and have undertaken many perilous quests across Kakhabad at the behest of your god. You have stared down the Apes of Mauristatia. You have braved the Beastmen of Tinpang Valley. You have even infiltrated the Necromancers' Guild of Throben. But how will you fare in this, your most dangerous adventure? Will you survive the Shrine of the Salamander? |
How To Use Magic |
All spells are represented by a three-letter code and you must learn and practice your spells until you are able to identify a reasonable number of them from their codes. Casting a spell drains your STAMINA and each has a cost, in STAMINA points, for its use. Some spells require the use of an artefact. If you try and cast a spell without possessing the correct artefact, you will be wasting your STAMINA as the spell will not work. DON'T FORGET! You may not refer to the Spellbook of Verlang once you have started your adventure. |
The Spellbook Of Verlang |
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Additional Information |
You start armed with a war-hammer, but you may acquire other weapons later. As usual, you can choose the one that you will use in battle by selecting in the list of possessions and clicking on USE. |
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