[LUPO SOLITARIO] Libro IX: The Cauldron of Fear

[Kaluisurrr]

ma mangiamo, non penso ci avveleneranno di nuovo.....veeeero?

[Jesper]

LW è salutista e va a nanna!

The room, which overlooks the courtyard and stables, is small yet surprisingly clean and comfortable. You sleep well, but you are rudely awoken at dawn by the clang of a brass hand-bell. Guyuk’s wife is walking around the courtyard ringing it for all she’s worth. ‘Daybreak, daybreak! All awake, all awake!’ she cries, her voice only slightly less piercing than her bell. Quickly you wash and dress before gathering together your equipment and heading for the stables. Banedon is already there, having risen before dawn to prepare the horses.

The sky is cloudless and the air is warm and still as you ride out of Chadi. Open grasslands stretch before you, broken occasionally by the low, whitewashed farm buildings and peasant dwellings. It is noon when you arrive at a mass of standing stones that line the highway approaches to the village of Phea. Banedon recalls a local legend that the Black Zakhan of Vassagonia once came to wage war on the defenceless inhabitants of Phea, who had no army. The besieged people offered up prayers to the Goddess Ishir, who was sufficiently moved by their plight to cause the wicked Vassagonians to become petrified right where they stood, clad in full armour and clasping their weapons. It strikes you that the Pheans may very soon have cause to pray for Ishir’s help a second time.

A mile beyond the village you see a cloud of dust on the highway.

If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Huntmastery and have reached the rank of Principalin, turn to 69.

If you do not possess this skill, or if you have yet to reach this Kai rank, turn to 240.

Ok, questo è un momento importante Con l'uso di questo upgrade di Huntmastery usciamo dal livello Jedi "Luke Skywalker" ed entriamo in quello "Superman": per ora, accontentiamoci della vista telescopica!

Vedrete

Using your improved Kai Mastery you focus on the distant dust cloud. It grows larger and sharper as your telescopic vision magnifies the image. You see a patrol of Anarian cavalry riding towards you, led by one who wears a crimson cloak. You count twenty lances, each of them bearing a small flag embroidered with the arms of Tahou.



If you wish to ride forward to meet these soldiers, turn to 193.

If you choose to avoid them by hiding behind the standing stones, turn to 78.

La nostra super vista individua 20 cavalieri con lo stendardo di Tahou...che facciamo ?

[Bortas]

Andiamogli incontro pacifici, non credo ci sia subito da combattere 193

[Defender]

Siamo Maestri Kai, non abbiamo paura neanche di Satana, sono loro semmai che dovrebbero nascondersi!

193

[Kaluisurrr]

"cosa vedono i tuoi occhi da ariano, lone wolf?"


andiamo a parlare con i soldati vah

[Sturm]

Corriamogli incontro e gridiamogli quanto siamo incazzati per essere stati svegliati da strepiti di donna all'alba!

[Jesper]

L'Ubermensch va a parlamentare

Slowly the cavalry draws nearer; the faces of the soldiers are stern and unsmiling beneath the peaks of their winged helmets. Their leader, a sergeant, makes a signal and the horsemen change formation, drawing into a circle that quickly closes around you. ‘State your business here!’ bellows the sergeant. ‘Why do you ride to Tahou?’

At first you are suspicious of their identity, but your basic Kai Sixth Sense tells you that these men are genuine Anarian rangers.

If you wish to tell the sergeant the real reason you are riding to Tahou, turn to 279.

If you have an Invitation and wish to show it to him, turn to 136.

If you demand what right they have to hinder your passage to the capital, turn to 343.

Ora che sappiamo che sono ranger anali genuini, vogliamo rivelare loro la nostra missione? O gli mostriamo l'invito per casa del maestro di Bademon? O ci offendiamo?

[Kaluisurrr]

c'abbiamo il pass famoglielo vedere

[Bortas]

Noi abbiamo la vip card e la mostriamo a sti pezzenti 136

[Defender]

"si potrebbe rilasciare un lasciapassare" (cit.)

136

[Jesper]

The burly sergeant snatches the parchment from your hand and studies it carefully. Without raising his head he asks how two Northlanders came to possess a personal invitation to one of Tahou’s most respected households. When Banedon explains your meeting with Lortha, and how he was once a student of Chiban, her husband, the sergeant somewhat reluctantly accepts your story and returns the Invitation. ‘Stay on the highway and make sure you reach Tahou by sunset,’ he says, as he signals to his troop to let you pass. ‘Enemy scouts have been sighted in the hills south of the capital. If you’re not inside the city walls by nightfall…’ He draws his finger quickly across his throat.

You thank him for his advice and watch as he and his troop wheel away and ride south. You pocket the Invitation and glance apprehensively at Banedon before pressing on with your own journey north.

Turn to 213.

Pure le minacce

It is late afternoon when you see the Tahou Hills. They appear like a mirage on the horizon, shimmering beyond the haze that rises from the sun-baked plain. Without stopping for food or rest, you hurry across the hot grasslands and follow the highway as it ascends towards the mouth of a pass. A stone watchtower guards the entrance to the hills and a cluster of whitewashed huts lie huddled around its base.

If you have the Magnakai Discipline of Pathsmanship and have reached the Kai rank of Tutelary, turn to 160.

If you do not possess this skill or have yet to reach this level of Magnakai training, turn to 314.

OFC.

Your senses tingle with a premonition of danger—you are sure that the watchtower and huts conceal an enemy, lying in ambush. You tell Banedon your fears and he looks ahead, his keen eyes narrowing, but the pass is dark with the gathering dusk and he cannot detect anything unusual about the settlement, except that it appears deserted.

‘If we avoid the pass, we’ll have to make a wide detour and rejoin the highway at a place deeper in the hills,’ he says, scanning the shadowy highlands. ‘Even if we don’t get lost, we’ll be lucky to reach Tahou before nightfall.’

If you wish to avoid the settlement and make a wide detour, turn to 335.

If you decide to gallop through the pass despite the risk of an ambush, turn to 92.

Rischiamo l'agguato, o rischiamo di sforare il coprifuoco?

[Defender]

Detouriamo. Pathsmanship non mente, che ce l'abbiamo a fare sennò?

335

[Bortas]

335, quando dever dice rischio imboscata l'imboscata ci sarà sicuramente, francamente perchè rompersi le balle spacchiamo il tutto di tutto domani...

[Sturm]

Attacur a cazzo drittur! 92

[Jesper]

Se ci becca la pula diciamo che abbiamo bucato uno zoccolo

Stones rattle beneath your horse’s hooves as you skirt the slopes of the Tahou Hills. Nearly an hour slips by before you happen upon the mouth of a gorge that offers a shorter route to the north. You enter and ride along a dried-out watercourse that winds for a mile between turrets of dull-coloured rock before rising steeply into the hills. At this point a small stone hut sits overhanging the gorge. Candlelight flickers at its window and a wisp of wood smoke rises from its chimney.

If you wish to stop and investigate the hut, turn to 18.

If you choose to ignore it and press on, turn to 123.

Ci interessa ?