LOYAL HEART

Gamebook

Pavel Tomcsányi

INTRODUCTION

On the south of an equatorial continent, there is an ape people kingdom called Joschonara. It’s a jungle territory. The natives live according to natural patterns in harmony with nature. They call themselves the Joschols. They lived peaceful life here for many generations and didn’t annoy anyone. They elected a king among themselves every 11 years. It’s over two hundred years, king Pafftenog reigned over the ape people when a forest horn, that had been silent for ages, sounded on their northern border. The resounding tone of that horn meant only one thing. Attack! The peaceful ape people didn’t have any powerful army to face to the unexpected invasion of the outlanders who came from the sea on big ships. The Northern territory stayed under aggressors’ rule and they took invasions to the midlands and caused panic. King Pafftenog didn’t want to watch the destruction of his country. He knew it would be better to hit their enemy’s heart instead of building an army to fight back. The Joschols aren’t warriors. However, they are quick and insidious. Therefore, he sent a message to his brave Joschols, who are not afraid of the enemy from the sea and who have enough honor and courage. The one who gets into the Askals’ territory, it is the name of their enemy, prevents plunder and kills the Askals’ king Karkesan, that one becomes a king.

GAME RULES

Fight (Fight)

The way you use your weapon describes your fight. If the fight comes, you will throw a hexagon cube once more and add the fight points to your score. You can throw once more after six. Then your rival throws and they can make the same with their fight score. Compare your results. The one with higher result hits the other. One condition point is taken away of the hit player. The fight can change within your wandering. It depends on the weapon you use. Your fight score is 3 at the beginning.

Condition (C)

Your condition describes your health. If you are hurt, your condition goes down. It can increase again if you get better, but it cannot reach over the original score. If your condition goes down to zero or under zero, your character dies. Your condition score is 12 at the beginning.

Good hit

If the difference between the fight score of all the players is 4 or more, the hit player loses 2 points instead of 1 because his rival has hit him well.

Fortune

Fortune has saved many strong and brave heroes or bad luck has buried them. It can happen to you. If you are asked to take your chance, throw the cube once again. 1, 2, or 3 mean bad luck. 4, 5, or 6 mean luck.

Fortune’s honey

There’s nothing like succeeding in everything you touch. It’s possible that you can learn that you received 1 luck point. Put it down in your diary. If you are the fortune’s favourite and you have some extra luck, you can make any of your throws better. Every time you use this option, you have to take 1 extra luck point away. Ex. if you have 2 luck points, you can add two more throws to your compulsory throw until you will be satisfied. Of course, you have to take both luck points away in this case. If you don’t have any extra luck points, you will throw only once until you receive some new points.

Masks and secrecy

Sooner or later you will have to go in your rival’s territory. You can’t do that without a mask, it helps you to look like your enemy. In this case you will be asked to compare the quality of the mask. Throw the dice once and add the result to your detection limit. Then throw the cube instead of your rival and add the result to his attention (will be specified later). The player with better result wins. The way is similar to fight, but you can throw the cube only once. If the results are identical, throw again. Your secrecy limit is 0 at the beginning of the game.

Something about you

Your name is Borgan. You are a single-minded young Joschol man and you heard about the king’s appeal. You don’t want to become a king but you are fed up with the Askals and their invasions. That’s the reason for your decision, after hearing about another attack, to react to the king’s appeal.

Equipment

If you really set off, you will get “hakso”. It’s juice made of tropical fruit with leached herbs and it’s in a pumpkin shell. A few swallows of this nectar provide energy and force to do anything. At the beginning you only carry one use supply with. Every time you drink, you add 5 condition points. You can drink any time, but not in fight.

Your best weapon is a bamboo stick and you can work with it very well. Although it is hollow, it is very strong. You also have ten poisoned darts in a little bow on your belt. You can fire them from the stick if you put a dart into it and blow hard. The dart causes weariness and disorientation to people you hit, the weak ones can die. The stick improves your fight with 2 points. It means that if you fight with it, your fight score is 5 at the beginning (3 for fight, 2 for the stick).

Fight with more rivals

It’s not pleasant but it can often happen. In that case, follow these instructions. If you fight with more rivals, compare your throws with all of them. However, you can hurt the first one only. You hurt another one and you get the first one out. If you are better in fight with the second one, the third one … you don’t hurt them, they only don’t hit you. Each of them, who is better than you in a current round, hurts you. However, you hurt each of them till their condition score will go down to zero.

1.

You got up early in the morning and left your home. You reached the destination at noon and you stopped in front of the king’s palace. It’s built in the tops of huge hundred-year-old trees. Two Joschols with machetes are standing near the main ropes. They guard the gate of the palace. You want to go by but they’re stopping you. “Where are you going, buddy?” One of them is asking. What’s your answer?

“It’s none of your business.” And you can go on. --> 3.

You are going to say the right reason why you are here. --> 2.

You’re going to show them the force of your stick to remember that they shouldn’t annoy you anymore. --> 4.

2.

The guards smiled. “You’ve been the twentieth in recent three days. Anyway, only few people accepted the king’s message.” “Who knows where they are,” the other one smiled encouragingly. Then they let you climb up the ropes.

>>> 5.

3.

“It’s none of your business” you said calmly and went. “But it is my business” was one of the guards answer and two strong arms knocked you down the rope. You fell on your back and lost 1 condition point. “You may remember it next time”, the other guard said and they lifted you. One of them brought you to the king.

>>> 5.

4.

“Do you want to threaten us, kid?!” You are trying to hit one of them with your stick but it has wrapped in the rope. Before you can learn what’s going on, one of the guards is hitting you with the flat side of his machete. You lost 1 condition point. One of them brought you to the king.

>>> 5.

5.

It didn’t take a long time and you found yourself in a large hall high in the treetops. This place looks larger than from the ground. There are several exits ending somewhere inside your leader’s palace. In front of you there is king Pafftenog sitting on a huge wooden throne. He’s tall and strong. Two guards staying one behind the other are watching all your steps. You’re explaining why you came. The king’s watching you with doubts and he’s saying: “Do you know, boy, what kind of task you are going to face? Many brave men have enlisted but only few of them passed the exam. We don’t want anybody who thinks that they can do that to set off on the journey. The loss of every single life is bad in this time. However, you should know that everyone has a chance and you can take it. If you pass, we will see that you can cope with it and we will let you try to enter the Askals’ territory then.” One of the guards is taking you in a locked room. There’s a little wooden ring hanged just under the ceiling. It’s quite high and it’s clear you can’t reach it from the ground. “If you bring the ring, you’ll pass the exam,” the guard said leaving the room. The door shut. You’re standing under the ring thinking about the ways of getting it when suddenly, a secret gate in front of you opened. Some wooden monster drove out of it. You hardly jumped aside and the wooden thing stand under the ring. You can see some little windows on it, the Joschols are sitting there and they’re probably controlling the robot. “It will be really interesting,” you think. The wooden monster won’t give you the ring easily. Your only chance is to fight with the machine. Its wooden arms are strong, but not as skillful as yours.

WOODEN ROBOT

FIGHT 3

C 12

Your Condition is 4, -->6.

If you win, --> 7.

6.

The hits of the wooden arms are too strong and painful. With the broken stick, you’re falling on the ground and lying by the feet of the tireless monster. The machine moved away from you and let you alone. The door you had used before to come in opened and two Joschols helped you to hobble to the king. “I see it was really hard. You’re not ready to set off on your own in our enemy’s territory and face the traps outside. Go home. You’ll thank me one day.” This is the end of your effort.

7.

You’re skillfully slipping through the wooden limbs and you’re beating the strong hits back. Finally, you managed to get behind the monster where you used the stick as a crowbar and blocked its movement. You’re pushing the bamboo stick with all your force, the robot is slowly leaning on one side and finally, it’s falling down with noise. It’s helplessly lying on the ground and you hear some people abusing inside it. You climbed on it and you were able to jump for the ring without any problem. The door opened. Two Joschols brought you to the king. “Congratulations. You seem to be a great adept. You can set off on the journey in the morning. But now take a rest and have something to eat.” You got a lot of delicious food and drink and in the evening you went to a comfortable bed. You woke up early in the morning and felt really strong. If you lost some condition in the fight with the robot, you can gain 6 points. It’s time to leave. You set off with a guide who’s going with you on secret paths to the northern border of a relatively safe territory. When you came on the place where you can see some cues of the Askals’ activity, your guide stopped. “You have to walk on your own now, I have to go back. Take this, you’ll certainly need it.” He gave you a pumpkin with hakso, wished you good luck and disappeared in bush. You’re going north. You had been walking for two hours when you saw some fight, two Askals with swords against one Joschol with a broken stick. The enemies are better and their triumph is just a matter of time. Something unexpected would have to happen to set the fight back.

You’re going to hide and watch the fight --> 9.

You want to help the Joschol --> 8.

8.

You don’t want to watch the barbarians who are going to kill your countryman. You’re trying to think something up. You’re going to:

Attack with your stick --> 10.

Use the darts and hit one of the barbarians --> 11.

Run out and shout: “Run away. The wild ketorax is coming.” --> 12.

9.

You don’t have enough courage to help your countryman. You’re flattering yourself that’s clever. It didn’t take a long time and they killed him. They started searching him, but they didn’t find anything. Later, they started searching surroundings. Take your chance.

Luck --> 13.

Bad luck --> 14.

10.

You’re pressing your stick hard and starting fight. The Askals didn’t expect it and before they realized what was going on, you hit one of them well. One of them is fighting with the Joschol, the other one turned to you. Take 2 points off their condition.

>>> 15.

11.

Take one dart off your score. You were aiming at the aggressors, blew and hit one of them. They noticed the place the dart had come from and you’ll have to fight face to face. You left your hiding place and started fighting. Your force is equal to theirs, one against one. You’re fighting against the man you hit with the dart. Take 2 points off his condition and 1 point off his fight because he was poisoned with a dart.

>>>15.

12.

You jumped out of your hiding place. You’re waving with your hands and shouting that they have to run away because of the monster. They broke the fight for a moment and they’re gazing at you with surprise. They didn’t believe you and you’re betrayed. The Askals split up, one of them is still fighting against your countryman and the other is going to fight against you. You must fight.

>>> 15.

13.

They kept on searching the bush but they didn’t find you. They dragged away. When you were sure that they had gone, you left your hiding place. You’re heading north.

>>> 16.

14.

The Askals have found you! You’re not waiting anymore and before they’ll recover, you’re going against them with your stick. Fight against both of them at the same time.

First Askal

Fight 4

C4

Second Askal

Fight 4

C5

If you knock both of them down --> 49.

15.

Askal

Fight 4

C4

If you win --> 17.

16.

The track goes on through the dense jungle and it’s almost straight. You’re going on for an hour and now you’re coming to the crossroads of three tracks. All of them go north but each of them in a different course. They look like a trident.

You have a map --> 21.

You’re going right --> 24.

Straight --> 20.

Left --> 48.

17.

Both Askals are dead, the other Joschol survived. He’s leaning against a tree and breathing. Although he’s been hurt, he’ll survive. He’s still surprised to see a friendly man. “If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead now.” He passed you a little bottle with blue liquid. “Take this. I got it from a shaman. After drinking it you’ll look like an Askal. It might be useful for you. But don’t drink it right now because its effect is limited. I won’t need it anymore, I’m going home.” You helped him to bound his wounds and after a short rest you said goodbye to him. You searched the Askal soldiers but you don’t mind their swords. You’re more interested in a little map which one of them had. It shows the fastest way to the port on the north. However, it’s clear that your enemy uses the way a lot, too.

>>> 16.

18.

You came in a shanty. Nobody has lived for ages. You can see a lot of dust and spider-webs everywhere. That’s why you’re surprised when you’re finding a rolled rope in the dust under the table. You’re taking it. There was nothing more to see and you left the shanty. You found a narrow path to the north in the bush.

You’re going on it --> 29.

You’re going back to the crossroads --> 16.

19.

The shanty doesn’t look strong enough to go there. You found a narrow path to the north in the bush.

You’re going on it --> 29.

You’re going back to the crossroads --> 16.

20.

You’re going on the middle track. It seems to be more smoothed, it’s probably used more. You were going for a few minutes when you heard some voices behind the turn. You stopped. You have no idea that the Askals can be there, but you’re not sure. You’re going to:

Hide in the bush next to the path --> 22.

Stay on your place and get ready to fight --> 23.

21.

You’re able to use the map well. You found out that the turns left and right are longer and the straight path is the most comfortable.

>>> 16.

22.

You’ve hidden in the bush. When the voices came closer, you understood that it hadn’t been such a bad idea. Three Askal soldiers went out the crossroads. One of them is carrying a sword, the second one a halberd and the third one an axe. You’re going to:

Capitulate --> 25.

Stay in the bush and hope they won’t notice you --> 31.

Stand up and fight against them --> 28.

23.

You’re sure that they are the Askals and you don’t want them to leave without fight.

You’re going to welcome them with your darts --> 26.

You’re going to hide behind the bush and attack with the stick in your hand --> 27.

The end of excerpt

Table of Contents

Title page

Introduction

Game Rules

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2.

3.

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