Tuesday, April 12, 2011

April A to Z - J is for Jaxartes

Sit!  Not you two!
Appears in:  Fangs of Fury (Fighting Fantasy 39) by Luke Sharp

Background:  Jaxartes was once a member of the mage order but he got kicked out for dabbling in the dark arts.  He has now gained control over Ostragoth the Grim and is using his army to besiege a small city where the mage order is trapped.  If he kills them, then the whole of South West Khul will fall under his control.

Prominence:  Jaxartes' soldiers have overrun the country that you are attempting to cross.  His mage warriors are in the volcano that you are trying to get to and his agents have slain most of the Wazarri who are your allies.  He's done an effective job of taking over.  9/10.

Hardness:  Jaxartes has powerful magic.  If you come across him before the end, he will either cast a spell on you or fight you.  He has a skill of 10 and a stamina of 12 but if you win, you don't kill him.  He just gets up, laughs and disappears.  When you reach the end, he will launch sheets of flame at you, doing 4 stamina points of damage if you are not protected by black cubes.  However, you can kill him by opening a particular numbered lock.  If you know the number, you will win.  If not, you can guess.  You have a 1 in 50 chance, which is low, but you might get it.  7/10.

Ambition:  If he wins, the whole of South West Khul will be under his control.  8/10.

Style:  Jaxartes comes across as a typical evil wizard.  He lives in a tent at the moment and doesn't really have a unique character.  Bonus mark for commanding a legion of sith warrior mages armed with lightsabres wand swords.  3/10.

Diabolical genius:  Jaxartes knows what he is doing here.  He does have an army of mooks but he also makes sure that he is one step ahead of you and kills of all of your allies, leaves traps all over the place and has a traitor in your city.  9/10.

Total score:  He's another evil wizard clone but he's got some interesting methods and allies and he's hard to kill.  35/50.

2 comments:

  1. You are talking a completely different language for me! It all sounds really good, though. I'm sure one of my boys (or husband) would completely understand. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  2. Thankyou for stopping by my blog! If you would like to know anything about gamebooks, please ask as I do not want to leave anyone feeling left out.

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