Mydnight's Hero (2 page)

You asked Lone Wolf how you could assist in keeping his pledge to Lord Xavial. His reply sent a shiver tingling down your spine.

‘Prince Karvas must be found. He must also be persuaded to return to Seroa, his homeland capital, to claim his throne before time runs out. You, Grand Master, are closer to the Isle of Sheasu than any other Kai. I must command you to go there and seek him out. Lord Zinair has already made provision for your journey by ship. He will accompany you and assist your mission. The Magicians' Guild of Toran has also pledged its help. The Guildmaster has dispatched one of his brotherhood — Wizard Acraban — to Sheasu. He travels by skyship and should arrive there in twenty days' time. You are to rendezvous with Wizard Acraban at the city of Mydnight — the island's only port. Acraban will help you find the Prince and transport him aboard his flying craft directly to Seroa.’

With mixed feelings of pride and trepidation, you accepted the mission and vowed to Lone Wolf that you would do everything in your power to ensure its success. Your resolute promise met with his approval.

‘I have faith in you, Grand Master,’ he replied. ‘The quest you are to undertake upholds the noblest traditions of the Kai. I am confident you will prevail. May Kai and Ishir guide you swiftly to victory over Sadanzo — an agent of Naar.’

You keep a record of your adventure on the
Action Chart
.

During the years you have spent in training at the Kai Monastery, you have devoted yourself to further developing your fighting prowess (
COMBAT SKILL
) and physical stamina (
ENDURANCE
). Before you begin this
New Order
adventure you need to measure how effective your training has been. To do this take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it onto the
Random Number Table
. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero.

The first number that you pick from the
Random Number Table
in this way represents your
COMBAT SKILL
. Add 25 to the number you picked and write the total in the
COMBAT SKILL
section of your
Action Chart
(i.e. if your pencil fell on the number 7 in the
Random Number Table
you would write in a
COMBAT SKILL
of 32). When you fight, your
COMBAT SKILL
will be pitted against that of your enemy. A high score in this section is therefore desirable.

The second number that you pick from the
Random Number Table
represents your powers of
ENDURANCE
. Add 30 to this number and write the total in the
ENDURANCE
section of your
Action Chart
(i.e. if your pencil fell on the number 8 on the
Random Number Table
you would have 38
ENDURANCE
points).

If you are wounded in combat you will lose
ENDURANCE
points. If at any time your
ENDURANCE
points fall to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over. Lost
ENDURANCE
points can be regained during the course of the adventure, but your number of
ENDURANCE
points cannot rise above the number you have when you start an adventure.

If you have successfully completed either of the previous adventures in the
Lone Wolf New Order
series (Books 21–22), you can carry your current scores of
COMBAT SKILL
and
ENDURANCE
points over to this adventure.
¹
You may also carry over any Special Items, Kai Weapon, normal Weapons, and Backpack Items you had in your possession at the end of your last adventure, and these should be entered on your new
Action Chart
.

Playing Tip:
You may use a 10-sided die instead of the
Random Number Table
if you find it more convenient.

It has long been the tradition of your élite warrior caste to bestow a new name upon each young novice when they complete their first year's training at the Kai Monastery. Kai names are chosen by senior Kai Masters with the aim of reflecting the individual strengths and qualities of each novice.

You may create your own Kai name for yourself, or you can generate a Kai name at random using the name tables below. To generate a Kai name, pick a number from the
Random Number Table
and consult Table A. The name which corresponds to the number you have picked is the first part, or prefix, of your Kai name. Now pick a second number from the
Random Number Table
and consult Table B. The name which corresponds to the number you have picked is the second part, or suffix, of your Kai name. Put the prefix and the suffix together and you have your own personal Kai name.

During your distinguished rise to the ranks of the New Order of Kai Grand Masters, you have become proficient in all of the basic Kai and Magnakai Disciplines. These Disciplines provide you with a formidable arsenal of natural abilities which will serve you well. A brief summary of your skills is given below:

Weaponmastery

You are proficient with all close combat and missile weapons. You are a master of unarmed combat and suffer no
COMBAT SKILL
loss when fighting bare-handed.

Animal Control

You are able to communicate with most animals and have limited control over hostile creatures. You can use woodland animals as guides and you are able to block a non-sentient creature's sense of taste and smell.

Curing

You are able to restore
ENDURANCE
points lost as a direct result of combat. You may restore 1
ENDURANCE
point for every numbered section of the book you pass through in which you are not involved in further combat. The maximum number of
ENDURANCE
points that can be restored in this way is limited to 10 per adventure.
You also possess the ability to heal the wounds of others, and you can neutralize the harmful effects of most poisons, venoms, and toxins.

Invisibility

You can hide effectively in most environments, mask any sounds made during movement, and you can cause minor alterations of your own physical appearance. Also you are able to mask your own body heat and scent.

Huntmastery

You are an expert hunter of food in the wild. You possess great physical agility and a keen sense of vision (day and night). Your senses of hearing and smell are especially acute.

Pathsmanship

You are able to understand most languages, magical symbols, and hieroglyphics. You are expert at reading footprints and tracks. You have an intuitive knowledge of the compass points and can detect the threat of an enemy ambush up to a distance of 500 yards. You possess an ability to cross terrain without leaving tracks. You can converse with sentient creatures and mask yourself from psychic spells of detection.

Psi-surge

You are able to attack enemies using the powers of your mind. Also you can set up disruptive vibrations in inanimate objects and cause confusion in the minds of unsophisticated enemies.

Psi-screen

You possess strong mental defences against hypnosis, supernatural illusions, charms, hostile telepathy, and evil spirits. You are able to divert and re-channel some hostile psychic energy to your own ends.

Nexus

You can move small items by projection of your mind power. You can withstand extremes of temperature and are able to extinguish fire by force of your will alone. You have a limited immunity to flames, toxic gases, and corrosive liquids.

Divination

Your famous Kai Sixth Sense can warn you of imminent danger. You can detect invisible or hidden enemies, and you are able to communicate telepathically. You can recognize magic-using and/or magical creatures, detect psychic residues, and you have a limited ability to leave your corporeal body (‘spirit-walk’) for short periods.

After years of martial training and study at the Kai Monastery, and by the rigorous practice of the teachings of your illustrious mentor — Kai Supreme Master Lone Wolf — you have achieved the noble rank of Kai Grand Master Senior.

Following in the footsteps of Lone Wolf himself, you have vowed that one day you will become totally proficient in all 16 of the New Order Kai Grand Master Disciplines. By doing so successfully you will share with Lone Wolf the responsibility, the honour, and the future glory of leading the New Order Kai as a Supreme Master.

If this is the first
New Order
adventure you have undertaken, then your present rank is that of Kai Grand Master Senior. This means that you have mastered
four
of the New Order Grand Master Disciplines listed below. It is for you to decide which four Disciplines these are. As all of the New Order Grand Master Disciplines may be of use to you at some point during your mission, pick these four skills with care. The correct use of a New Order Grand Master Discipline at the right time could save your life. When you have chosen your four Disciplines, enter them in the Grand Master Disciplines section of your
Action Chart
.

This Discipline enables a New Order Grand Master to become supremely efficient in the use of all weapons. When you enter combat armed with one of your Grand Master weapons, you may add 5 points to your
COMBAT SKILL
. The rank of Kai Grand Master Senior, with which you begin the
New Order
series, means that you are skilled in the use of
one
of the weapons listed in the
Equipment section
.
²
For every adventure that you complete successfully in the
New Order
series while possessing the Discipline of Grand Weaponmastery, you will gain proficiency with one additional weapon.

If you have the Discipline of Grand Weaponmastery with Bow, you may add 5 points to any number you pick from the
Random Number Table
, when using the Bow.
³

New Order Grand Masters have considerable control over hostile, non-sentient creatures. Also, they have the ability to converse with birds and fishes, and use them as guides.

New Order Grand Masters are able to use their healing power to repair serious battle-wounds. If, while in combat, their
ENDURANCE
is reduced to 8 points or less, they can draw upon their mastery to restore 20
ENDURANCE
points. This emergency ability can only be used once every 20 days.

New Order Grand Masters are able to effect striking changes to their physical appearance, and maintain these changes over a period of one to three days. They have also mastered advanced camouflage techniques which make them virtually undetectable in an open landscape.

New Order Grand Masters are able to see in total darkness and they possess great natural speed and agility. They also have a superb sense of touch and taste. If you have chosen the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery as one of your skills, you will not need to tick off a Meal when instructed to eat.

New Order Grand Masters are able to resist entrapment by hostile plants. Also they have a super-awareness of ambush, or the threat of ambush, in woods and dense forests.

When using their psychic ability to attack an enemy, New Order Grand Masters may add 8 points to their
COMBAT SKILL
. For every round in which Kai-surge is used, they need only deduct 1
ENDURANCE
point. Grand Masters have the option of using a weaker form of psychic attack called Mindblast. When using this lesser attack, they may add 4 points to their
COMBAT SKILL
without loss of
ENDURANCE
points (Kai-surge and Mindblast cannot be used simultaneously). New Order Grand Masters cannot use Kai-surge if their
ENDURANCE
score falls to 6 points or below.