Grey Star Book 2, Part 2
So Grey Star, with Urik and Samu in tow, is off to Desolation Valley, beyond the fearsome Mountains of Morn. Our journey will be long and the going arduous, and it's not long before Urik and Samu both realise we're being followed (I'm presumably too bookish / not wilderness savvy enough to notice this)
Samu cheerfully hangs back to ambush the follower and brings in a scrawny little dude in leathers and red trousers with his arms wrapped around his neck. He gives his name (once I have stopped him being throttled) as Hugi and i recognise him as the guy who tried to rob me back in Sado's base camp. He admits to being a thief and a rogue who spied on us to discover our location and wants to follow us to the Forbidden City because its supposed to be full of treasure. This is my third companion. He's smarmy and arrogant and quite a contrast to Samu and Urik, the former of whom keeps asking if he can kill him (Urik suggests just breaking his legs if he steps out of line). He's definitely a dick, but he might come in handy.
Before long then, the four of us are into the Deadlands which as you can imagine is devoid of any life, plant or animal. Hugi is going on about treasure and exposition when we encounter something that IS in the Deadlands - a horrible ghost. Using my powers of Evocation I'm able to protect my little gang inside a pentagram until it wanders off, and that night I have a dream message from Shasarak taunting me about how doomed I am and my mates will end up dead like they did in the previous book. The next day I'm weak and feverish from the dream attack and things get worse when we encounter three more ghosts, sent by Shasarak to stop us. This time it is Urik who drives them away, but I'm starting to look a bit low on willpower through all these exertions and with my endurance also dripping away through night terrors I'm not in the best of shape by the time we reach the mountains and the Forbidden City, which nestles at their base. It's all in ruins and very gloomy looking, and only accessible via a very decrepit looking bridge over a fast flowing river of black water. Hugi reckons the bridge will bear our weight but then refuses to go first: it is left to Urik, snorting at Hugi's cowardice, to go first. Seeing the bridge is safe, Hugi then crosses, then me, but when Samu goes last (at his request, for he is the heaviest) the bridge collapses and despite our efforts he is swept away to his doom.
Tearfully head to the city and are about to pass through an archway when we are challenged by a crazed, starving looking old man claiming to need a password to open the non-existent city gate. It soon becomes clear that the city is not abandoned but instead full of lunatics. These madmen harass us at every turn, soon turning aggressive, and eventually we are chased by a mob through the broken city streets, captured (after I foolishly try to get to high ground and fall off a rotten platform) and thrown into a prison to await a grisly fate.
But all is not lost! As we sit in glum contemplation, there is a terrific amount of noise outside and who should burst into the cell but Samu! The big tribesman, having survived the river, has tracked us here and cuts a swathe through the crazies to save us. Eventually, with Hugi's skills, we are able to get through a door and into miles of winding passages under the city that eventually bring us into a vast hall where we find the 'king' of the city, clad in ragged robes and attended by courtiers and soldiers in dirty finery and rusted armour, dancing to non-existent music. There's no way out of here so I decide to brazen it out, and when he sees me the king welcomes me and invites me to dine with them at the royal banquet - which, horrible, turns out to be piles of human limbs on a rat infested table off filthy silverware. I'm able to sit through this in mounting horror until the king and his court depart and we are free to explore.
At this point we realise Hugi has done a runner, but we track him down in the now-empty throne room where he discovers a hidden passage into the mountain and eventually a vast treasure chamber, which to his huge disappointment contains only piles of mouldering books.
Whilst Hugi is weeping and Samu is thinking about laying him out, I scour the books and discover that Shasarak is also a Shianti - couldn't see that coming - and avail myself of a weird black rod of magic bearing his emblem which proves immediately useful as it allows us to open a magic door and get out of here.
More passages beyond, and Urik tells us the Shadow Gate is close. My willpower is totally pathetic by now but I risk using some for Prophecy to guide me through the tunnels and we come out in Desolation Valley which is indeed desolate. It's also riddled with holes. Urik says the gate is below ground, and we're considering climbing down a hole when a massive blind worm monster pops out of one. Urik and I try to run but Samu wants to fight and I end up going back to help him: with my aid he chops its head off and boots it down the hole it came from. Eventually Urik finds the right hole and with Samu standing guard (Hugi has vanished at this point, not sure when he left or if he is just keeping quiet) Urik and I descend. I lost my rope earlier trying to help Samu out the river, so its a long drop for me but Urik just clambers down with ease.
Urik was on the money: I was expecting more tunnels here but instead we're right by the shadow gate. It's a big pool of inky darkness, and there's two shocks here: first the giant shadow demon that absolutely destroys you in book one, standing guard. Second, within the gate itself is none other than Tanith! I thought her dead but instead she is imprisoned within the gate, a tormented prisoner of Shasarak's realm.
I do NOT want to fight this demon, as my will and endurance are by now single figures. I do have the option of using the rod, and in a fit of inspiration I take the option to hand it over the demon. This frees it from its servitude to Shasarak and it immediately bogs off. Anticlimatic yet awesome victory! I'm always a fan of being able to avoid the final fight by being clever (or as here, lucky).
With the demon gone, the shadow gate rises before me. On the other side I can see Tanith, a prisoner. Without hesitation I step through... and that's the end of the book.
Enjoyed this a lot! Tons of lore, good writing, more companions who were not Mungos, and not very hard if you make smart decisions - although I was very, very close to death at the end. Recommended!
So Grey Star, with Urik and Samu in tow, is off to Desolation Valley, beyond the fearsome Mountains of Morn. Our journey will be long and the going arduous, and it's not long before Urik and Samu both realise we're being followed (I'm presumably too bookish / not wilderness savvy enough to notice this)
Samu cheerfully hangs back to ambush the follower and brings in a scrawny little dude in leathers and red trousers with his arms wrapped around his neck. He gives his name (once I have stopped him being throttled) as Hugi and i recognise him as the guy who tried to rob me back in Sado's base camp. He admits to being a thief and a rogue who spied on us to discover our location and wants to follow us to the Forbidden City because its supposed to be full of treasure. This is my third companion. He's smarmy and arrogant and quite a contrast to Samu and Urik, the former of whom keeps asking if he can kill him (Urik suggests just breaking his legs if he steps out of line). He's definitely a dick, but he might come in handy.
Before long then, the four of us are into the Deadlands which as you can imagine is devoid of any life, plant or animal. Hugi is going on about treasure and exposition when we encounter something that IS in the Deadlands - a horrible ghost. Using my powers of Evocation I'm able to protect my little gang inside a pentagram until it wanders off, and that night I have a dream message from Shasarak taunting me about how doomed I am and my mates will end up dead like they did in the previous book. The next day I'm weak and feverish from the dream attack and things get worse when we encounter three more ghosts, sent by Shasarak to stop us. This time it is Urik who drives them away, but I'm starting to look a bit low on willpower through all these exertions and with my endurance also dripping away through night terrors I'm not in the best of shape by the time we reach the mountains and the Forbidden City, which nestles at their base. It's all in ruins and very gloomy looking, and only accessible via a very decrepit looking bridge over a fast flowing river of black water. Hugi reckons the bridge will bear our weight but then refuses to go first: it is left to Urik, snorting at Hugi's cowardice, to go first. Seeing the bridge is safe, Hugi then crosses, then me, but when Samu goes last (at his request, for he is the heaviest) the bridge collapses and despite our efforts he is swept away to his doom.
Tearfully head to the city and are about to pass through an archway when we are challenged by a crazed, starving looking old man claiming to need a password to open the non-existent city gate. It soon becomes clear that the city is not abandoned but instead full of lunatics. These madmen harass us at every turn, soon turning aggressive, and eventually we are chased by a mob through the broken city streets, captured (after I foolishly try to get to high ground and fall off a rotten platform) and thrown into a prison to await a grisly fate.
But all is not lost! As we sit in glum contemplation, there is a terrific amount of noise outside and who should burst into the cell but Samu! The big tribesman, having survived the river, has tracked us here and cuts a swathe through the crazies to save us. Eventually, with Hugi's skills, we are able to get through a door and into miles of winding passages under the city that eventually bring us into a vast hall where we find the 'king' of the city, clad in ragged robes and attended by courtiers and soldiers in dirty finery and rusted armour, dancing to non-existent music. There's no way out of here so I decide to brazen it out, and when he sees me the king welcomes me and invites me to dine with them at the royal banquet - which, horrible, turns out to be piles of human limbs on a rat infested table off filthy silverware. I'm able to sit through this in mounting horror until the king and his court depart and we are free to explore.
At this point we realise Hugi has done a runner, but we track him down in the now-empty throne room where he discovers a hidden passage into the mountain and eventually a vast treasure chamber, which to his huge disappointment contains only piles of mouldering books.
Whilst Hugi is weeping and Samu is thinking about laying him out, I scour the books and discover that Shasarak is also a Shianti - couldn't see that coming - and avail myself of a weird black rod of magic bearing his emblem which proves immediately useful as it allows us to open a magic door and get out of here.
More passages beyond, and Urik tells us the Shadow Gate is close. My willpower is totally pathetic by now but I risk using some for Prophecy to guide me through the tunnels and we come out in Desolation Valley which is indeed desolate. It's also riddled with holes. Urik says the gate is below ground, and we're considering climbing down a hole when a massive blind worm monster pops out of one. Urik and I try to run but Samu wants to fight and I end up going back to help him: with my aid he chops its head off and boots it down the hole it came from. Eventually Urik finds the right hole and with Samu standing guard (Hugi has vanished at this point, not sure when he left or if he is just keeping quiet) Urik and I descend. I lost my rope earlier trying to help Samu out the river, so its a long drop for me but Urik just clambers down with ease.
Urik was on the money: I was expecting more tunnels here but instead we're right by the shadow gate. It's a big pool of inky darkness, and there's two shocks here: first the giant shadow demon that absolutely destroys you in book one, standing guard. Second, within the gate itself is none other than Tanith! I thought her dead but instead she is imprisoned within the gate, a tormented prisoner of Shasarak's realm.
I do NOT want to fight this demon, as my will and endurance are by now single figures. I do have the option of using the rod, and in a fit of inspiration I take the option to hand it over the demon. This frees it from its servitude to Shasarak and it immediately bogs off. Anticlimatic yet awesome victory! I'm always a fan of being able to avoid the final fight by being clever (or as here, lucky).
With the demon gone, the shadow gate rises before me. On the other side I can see Tanith, a prisoner. Without hesitation I step through... and that's the end of the book.
Enjoyed this a lot! Tons of lore, good writing, more companions who were not Mungos, and not very hard if you make smart decisions - although I was very, very close to death at the end. Recommended!