Let's Play: Challenge of the Magi: Mage1

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Caverns of Perdition.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You step out of the portal. Hot, parched air hits you as if you'd walked into a wall. You find yourself in a large cavern, the rough cracked walls burning-hot to the touch. The rock around you is of strange reddish material inlaid with skeins of black onyx. The very air itself is alive with the distinctive resonance of black and red magic. Tow tunnels, a cave mouth and a large ironbound, grotesquely-carved door serve as exits.

Ahead of you a thin, barely passable tunnel leads to the left. You may go down it, straight ahead, through the door or into the cavemouth, out of which emanates a strong, musty animal smell. Alternatively, you could Invoke the Portals, step into the Nexus and travel to the Greenwood, the House of Mausolus or the Silvered Spire. You must WAIT(25) before going anywhere.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Stay on the move. House of Mausolus.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You find yourself in a tall dark room of cold black marble. You know immediately that this is a place without magic. White pillars march around the edge and the middle of the room is taken up with row upon row of stone slabs. On the slabs rest naked corpses, cold and still. You have arrived in the House of Mausolus, the place of the dead, where heroes and people of import in the Rainbow Land lie preserved in death for ever. Beside you stairs lead down to the crypt. Will you go down into the crypt, investigate the bodies, examine the small shrine dedicated to some god or other nearby, or Invoke the Portals and go either to the Caverns of Perdition or the Phoenix Crags. In any case you must WAIT(26) before you do so.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Phoenix Crags.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You are at the Phoenix Crags. You step out onto a ledge at the side of a great mountain. You can sense the presence of magic here. Red and blue spells may be cast in this area. Below you a chasm yawns, a thin sliver of blue marking the distant river at the bottom. Up above tower magnificent, awe-inspiring crags, clawing at the yellow skies with gnarled fingers. It makes your head spin to look up or down.

A path leads from the ledge to an easily accessible mountain slop on which rests a hut. Another goat trail winds up a great crag directly above you. This crag is also accessible by a straight climb upward. Behind you, a cave mouth opens invitingly.

You can investigate the hut, follow the goat track, climb directly upwards or enter the cave, but you must WAIT(27) before you do so.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Forest of Arden.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

The portal disappears behind you and you find yourself surrounded by trees at the centre of a small clearing. The sun beats down but within the trees is a dark gloom. It is silent in the clearing and you feel alone, far from the security of your fellow men and their dwellings. Although you can hear nothing the Forest feels full of lie, full of unseen eyes spying on you. This is a place enchanted with green magic, a place where nature is untouched by man.

The tinkling of bells and piping of flutes reaches you, strangely bright and clear through the trees. Two muddy tracks leave the clearing. One leads off in the direction from which you think the music is coming from, the other disappears into the gloom in the opposite direction.

WAIT(28)

Will you take the path towards the sound of music, the gloomier path, or Invoke the Portals and go to the Citadel of the Skull, the Rainbow Inn, the Silvered Spires or the Phoenix Crags?
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Rainbow Inn!
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Post by Thaluikhain »

The portal flickers behind you and you are facing the Rainbow Inn, a brick and wood building with stables attached, standing at a crossroads near the river Weir. There is a well nearby and beyond it a black door hangs in the air, just off the ground, the sign outside the Inn shows not the natural colours of the rainbow but the five colours of magic in the Land, blue, red, green, white and black. You may fill your water bottle in the river if it is empty.

WAIT(29)

Will you go to the well, try the black door in the air, or walk towards the Inn? If instead you wish to Invoke the Portals, you must choose from the following destinations: the Silvered Spires, the Forest of Arden, the Citadel of the Skull, the Palace of Flames or the Sea of Glass.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Go in the inn, approach Mercutio.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Inside the Inn is warm and smoky. The familiar smells of wine mean and pipeweed mingle agreeably. The innkeeper is a sallow-faced man in late middle age, wearing a robe of many colours in the colour of the five magics. The usual motley array of merchants, farmers and their wives and assorted tradesmen make up the clientele. There is silence as all eyes re turned towards you, a stranger here. Three of the patrons stand out because they are sitting alone at their tables. One is a shifty-looking character dressed all in grey, with a slim sword at his side. Another is a man dressed like a wizard peering at a scroll through a curious piece of round glass that makes one of his eyes seem almost as large as his face. The third is a large man dressed in full plate armour, as black as night, with a great two-handed sword on the table in front of him. His insignia, a red dragon and a black mace match those on the warhorse tethered outside. All of the tables next to his have been pulled as far away by their occupants as space will allow. Will you walk up to the bar, sit opposite the man in grey, sit beside the man reading the scroll, or opposite the Black Knight?

There is a picture here

653
The shifty-looking character in grey sizes you up and then introduces himself as Mercutio, the thief. He asks you if you have any need of his services, telling you he is famous for having stolen, amongst other things, the dinner from underneath the nose of the Caliph of the Palace of Flames. If you don't wish to hire his services you had best leave the Inn straight away before he practices his stealthy craft on you. If you would like to try and hire him to steal something from your opponent decide how much gold you will offer him. You may offer him one or two bags of gold. If you have no gold or wish to leave anyway you quit the Inn and Invoke the Portals.

WAIT(30)

Where to next: the Sea of Glass, the Forest of Arden, the Silvered Spires, the Citadel of the Skull or the Palace of Flames?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Offer two. Steal his magic shield of +1 to combat.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Mercutio takes your bags of gold and smiles. 'Just tell me what you want me to do and it shall be done.' You tell him that you wish him to seek out your opponent and steal something from him. He asks if you are striving to become Duelmaster and you tell him the truth. 'In that case, consider it done. You power-crazed lunatics who seek to become Duelmaster leave a rumour of your passing through the land as large and as loud as a tidal wave.' 'But how will you find your quarry?' you ask. The thief smiles and shakes his head. 'That's for me to know and you to guess. What would you have me steal?' You must choose the object or animal you wish him to steal. 'Wait here,' says Mercutio, and he walks to the bar and gives a bag of gold to the Innkeeper whereupon the both disappear into a back room.

WAIT(31)

You may trust Mercutio and wait for him, or leave and Invoke the Portals to the Silvered Spires, the Forest of Arden, the Citadel of the Skull, the Palace of Flames or the Sea of Glass.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Wait.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

WAIT(32)

There is a sudden whoosh of air and Mercutio appears out of thin air next to you. Mercutio explains that the innkeeper is a magician and a good friend of his and that he teleported there and back with the innkeeper's help. 'Where and back?' you ask. 'That wasn't part of the bargain,' Says Mercutio. 'I should visit the stable right away if I were you,' he adds before he turns back to his ale. You mutter thanks and go to the stable.

(Which is where +1 shield is. It has the coat of arms of Lord Javhak, Duke of Mayhem against whom Ilexmanan waged bloody war, as an aside)

You decide to leave the Rainbow Inn by Invoking the Portals before your opponent can guess that you are here and try to kill you.

WAIT(33)
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Just to clarify, I'm waiting for further text? Or I'm back at the standard "move to a zone adjacent to the Inn" page, and you're waiting for me to select a destination?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I thought it was "move to a zone adjacent to the Inn", and I was waiting, yes, but looking at that second again, it does say:

"Where to next, the Sea of Glass, the Forest of Arden, the Silvered Spires, the Citadel of the Skull, or the Palace of Flames?"

over the page, missed that the first time, my mistake.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Citadel of Skull. Sanctuary. Wait 1.

Let's see if I can bait him in to approaching the Inn, if he's close, and then strike like a cobra!
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Post by Thaluikhain »

As the portal disappears you find yourself looking into the maw of an enormous skull. The Citadel of the Skull stretches towards dark skies above you, the red flicker of torches lending the hollow eye sockets an infernal glow. The citadel is black obsidian, reflecting dully the half-light of this region. Beyond it a grey plain stretches as far as the eye can see but a thin mist obscures the horizon. There is no gate but inside the skull mouth a great fire blazes lighting a broad black staircase which climbs to a landing from which a second passageway leads off to the left. This place is an area of black magic and no other.

WAIT(34)

There is a picture here

You can see a concealed doorway behind the skull's back teeth which leads to your Inner Sanctum which you may visit. Otherwise you may continue on up the main stairway or take the passageway to the left. If instead you want to quit this place where black magic alone infuses the air you may Invoke the Portals. Will you adventure next to the Sacred Grove, the Forest of Arden, the Palace of Flames or the Rainbow Inn?

As you walk towards the seemingly blank wall of blackest obsidian, the rock becomes insubstantial allowing you to pass through into a dark mazy corridor's torturous windings whichm though never the same, are always familiar. Soon you are seated on your ebony throne, in a room scattered with scrolls and wax drippings from the black candles which give off tje sombre half-light in which you feel most at home. You arms curl around the shrunken skulls on the throne's arms and you relax, idly clacking some unfortunate's knuckle bones. You may regain one Life Point and one Concentration Point for every WAIT you spend here. If this is the first time you have visited your Inner Sanctum, unscrewing the bones at the back of your bureau yields an Ambuscade scroll enabling you to cast the spell once.

WAIT(35)

When you are ready to go back out into the Rainbow Land you may Invoke the Portals. Where will you explore next: the Sacred Grove, the Forest of Arden, the Palace of Flames or the Rainbow Inn?

(Was that 1 Wait the wait you have to take(35), or another on top of that(36)?)
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

One more wait, two total. Three, including the arrival wait 34.

Then COBRA STRIKE onto the Inn!!

I bet he doesn't fall for that, though. Or he's doesn't care/hasn't actually acquired more gold/is busy constructing a necromancer killing superweapon, somewhere in the outer ring.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Ok, that'd be WAIT(36) then. Bringing you to 16LPs and 11CPs.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

The portal flickers behind you and you are facing the Rainbow Inn, a brick and wood building with stables attached, standing at a crossroads near the river Weir. There is a well nearby and beyond it a black door hangs in the air, just off the ground, the sign outside the Inn shows not the natural colours of the rainbow but the five colours of magic in the Land, blue, red, green, white and black. You may fill your water bottle in the river if it is empty.

WAIT(37)

Will you go to the well, try the black door in the air, or walk towards the Inn? If instead you wish to Invoke the Portals, you must choose from the following destinations: the Silvered Spires, the Forest of Arden, the Citadel of the Skull, the Palace of Flames or the Sea of Glass.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

...Bugger. Right, back to the citadel. Take the left passageway, this time.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

As the portal disappears you find yourself looking into the maw of an enormous skull. The Citadel of the Skull stretches towards dark skies above you, the red flicker of torches lending the hollow eye sockets an infernal glow. The citadel is black obsidian, reflecting dully the half-light of this region. Beyond it a grey plain stretches as far as the eye can see but a thin mist obscures the horizon. There is no gate but inside the skull mouth a great fire blazes lighting a broad black staircase which climbs to a landing from which a second passageway leads off to the left. This place is an area of black magic and no other.

WAIT(38)

There is a picture here

You can see a concealed doorway behind the skull's back teeth which leads to your Inner Sanctum which you may visit. Otherwise you may continue on up the main stairway or take the passageway to the left. If instead you want to quit this place where black magic alone infuses the air you may Invoke the Portals. Will you adventure next to the Sacred Grove, the Forest of Arden, the Palace of Flames or the Rainbow Inn?
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