Although you both try to call to the old man, he does not respond. He appears asleep, although you have your private doubts about that. You have little choice but to walk towards him.
As you step together down the marble hall towards the seated old man, the floor beneath your feet begins to tilt downwards. Make an Agility roll.
If you succeed in rolling less than or equal to your Agility score, turn 43.
If you fail, turn to 339.
Dice roll = 9 (Success).
There's a 2-player grid here, but it's not about choices, but rather a similar stat test at Issel's end...
Luckily, you have both managed to avoid falling into the pit, which has opened up in the floor of the marble hall. Cautiously stepping around it, you continue together towards the sleeping old man.
The old man still slumbers peacefully on his throne. Your next steps send up a shower of sparks and a terrible shock rushes through your body, but you continue.
Your next step causes the marble hall to disappear and you find yourselves in the centre of a wide, circular arena. The sleeping old man and his throne are still there, a little way off, but between them and you is a horrible creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man - it is a minotaur!
As the minotaur charges, you prepare to fight it. The minotaur will attack you each in turn and you should be wary - its horn are so lethal that you must lose 4 Strength points every time it hits you.
Minotaur: Horns 8 Strength 14
If Issel is killed at any time during the fight, you should turn at once to 34.
If you manage to kill the minotaur and you both survive, turn to 149.
Without the use of magic there's not much strategy to speak of. Pretty much the only thing Darian can to is to keep swinging his sword and hopes he scores a double-2. The Minotaur can potentially kill both of you in 3 rounds each while Issel needs 7 to kill it without rolling a double-2. Your best prayer is that it will miss at least twice....
However, there is an annoyingly ambiguous point about combat. The book states that if the PC is fighting more than 1 opponent at a time, he needs to split his swordsmanship skill by he number of opponents. It DOESN'T say that opponents need to do the same if they have to fight both PCs simultaneously, though, even though it would make sense.
In light of how difficult this fight is otherwise, I'm going to rule that the enemy has to go through the same penalty, otherwise your chances are low.
COMBAT LOG:
Darian rolls 6 and misses.
Issel rolls 7 and hits. Minotaur now at 12.
Minotaur rolls 4 and hits Darian. Darian now at 8.
Minotaur rolls 7 and misses Issel.
Darian rolls 4 and misses.
Issel rolls 10 and hits. Minotaur now at 10.
Minotaur rolls 7 and misses Darian.
Minotaur rolls 8 and misses Issel.
Darian rolls 7 and misses.
Issel rolls 8 and hits. Minotaur now at 8.
Minotaur rolls 7 and misses Darian.
Minotaur rolls 12 and misses Issel.
Darian rolls 6 and misses.
Issel rolls 8 and hits. Minotaur now at 6.
Minotaur rolls 3 and hits Darian. Darian now at 4.
Minotaur rolls 11 and misses Issel.
Darian rolls 7 and misses.
Issel rolls 7 and hits. Minotaur now at 4.
Minotaur rolls 7 and misses Darian.
Minotaur rolls 4 and hits Issel. Issel now at 6.
Darian rolls 9 and misses.
Issel rolls 3 and hits. Minotaur now at 2.
Minotaur rolls 9 and misses Darian.
Minotaur rolls 8 and misses Issel.
Darian rolls 2 and scores an auto-kill. Minotaur is dead!
.....yeah, Darian got his auto-kill....but Issel would have killed it in that round anyway. :/
As the minotaur dies, the arena shimmers and fades, and you find yourselves back in the marble hall. The old man is still sitting peacefully, but you are sure by now that he cannot be asleep. Taking another step towards him, you are shocked to find the floor beneath your feet has taken on the shape and solidity of a cloud! You are now both walking across a white cloud towards where the old man floats in his throne.
Do you believe that the clouds are solid? Of course not, but you must believe it now. Concentrating as hard as you can, you try to believe that the white, fluffy substance across which you are walking is actually firm enough to support you.
To concentrate on this idea, you must strain so hard that you expend 1 Strength point. (If your Strength level has fallen to zero then you are dead.)
To test if your belief is strong enough, you should roll two six-sided dice.
If the number you roll is 8 or more, turn to 122.
If the number you roll is less than 8, turn to 166.
Strength is now down to 3....
Dice roll = 6.
You have failed to believe that the surface on which you stand is solid, and you sink rapidly. Soon you are enclosed in white and you feel that you are falling at an ever-increasing rate towards the ground, which rushes up to meet you. Seconds before you hit it, you wince at the expected impact and sit bolt upright.
Opening your eyes you are surprised to discover yourself back in the Glade of Dreams. You have jerked awake moments before you would have died. Looking across at Issel's sleeping body, you see that he is still dreaming; you must wait for him to wake. Ignore any numbers that Issel calls out from now on unless they are one of the following: 162 or 17.
If Issel calls out 162, turn to 162.
If Issel calls out 17, turn to 71.
Issel must now deal with whatever other threats in his dream on his own......
Issel's eyes flicker open and you rush to kneel beside him, anxious to learn what he has dreamed. He tells you of his experiences and you exchange stories.
Stiff and sore from your efforts made in your dreams, you walk around the Glade of Dreams for a while and then sit together by the pool to discuss your options. It seems that if here is more than one person in the glade, they both dream the same thing, so you decide to take the dreams in sequence: first you will both try to dream about changing lead to gold; then, if that dream is successful, you will both try to dream of making Issel King. If neither dream is successful, then you will have to decide which of you will leave the glade while the other dreams alone.
When you have rested and eaten, restore your Strength to its original value. You lie down once more and, concentrating on your quest, you try to fall asleep.
Opening your eyes, you find that nothing has changed: you are still in the Glade of Dreams. Beside you, Issel too has his eyes opened and seems equally puzzled. But he seems suspicious and suggesta that you are in fact dreaming now. There is one easy way to test this. In the last dream magic did not work. If it does not work now, then you will know you are dreaming.
Will you attempt a spell?
Or will you let Issel try one?
Again, you are to come to a consensus on this with Issel's players, so discuss this in the main thread. You may also exchange stories of what happened after you were separated in your dreams.
