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The Books

"The Herbwardens are sure that the Cener they found in Ragadorn was one of the first of those sent out of Mogaruith to distribute this vaccine," said Rimoah, his voice uncharacteristically sombre. "Therefore we must act quickly if we are to destroy the virus before Cadak is ready to release it into the atmosphere. Someone must enter Mogaruith. They must find and destroy the plague virus, and they must ensure that this evil work can never again be resumed."

Lord Rimoah has sought out Lone Wolf to give him this grim message. This is an extremely dangerous quest, and only a Kai Grand Master possesses the skills and experience necessary to complete it.

The mission in The Plague Lords of Ruel is pretty straightforward. But exactly how you are to gain entry to the Cenerese stronghold Mogaruith and there destroy the plague virus is something of a mystery. The uncertainty helps make the story exciting. This is neither the first nor the last time Lone Wolf faces the Cener Druids. In The Kingdoms of Terror Lone Wolf meets with Roark (the ruler of Amory), who secretly is a Cener Druid. In the same book Lone Wolf has a chance to witness a secret ritual of the Cener Druids. Lone Wolf may also have encountered Roark in The Dungeons of Torgar, if he chooses the path over the Isle of Ghosts. This book introduces Arch Druid Cadak who also appears in Books 14, 16 and 20. The only other recurring character is Captain Cearmaine of Palmyrion. This adventure introduces many new creatures not seen in any other Lone Wolf book, including the the Vazhag, a sort of rat-creature bred by the Cenerese in Mogaruith.

The book was first published in 1990 by Red Fox, a division of Random House. Sadly, it was with the US publication of this book that the practice of abridging the US editions of the Lone Wolf books began. Since the series was well developed by this point, the publishing history of book 13 seems to be less colourful than the early books. It was at the this time that all the books were redone by Red Fox to match the new look and feel of the Grand Master series cover style.

The Plague Lords of Ruel follows in the tradition of the best Lone Wolf books, and embelishes that tradition at every opportunity. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable book that can be re-read many, many times. In terms of game play this book tends to offer few choices (something it shares with most of the other books in the Grand Master series). But the attention to detail is high, the story telling strong and the gameplay is excellent.

At the beginning of the book you are offered two ways to reach the Cenerese stronghold: via the forest of Ruel or via the Skardos Mountains. Each of these are new environments. After the long break between the publication of book 12 and book 13, it is good to see that Joe still intends to keep exciting exploration an aspect of the Lone Wolf series.

The offering of two major paths at the beginning is a tradition that goes back to book 3 and has been used in other books. However, in The Plague Lords of Ruel The two paths are remarkably different; a forest infested with evil magic and herbcraft versus a series of underground tunnels and the denizens stalking them. In other books where two paths are offered they are not so different as in book 13. This adds to the book's replayability greatly. Also, although the book does carry the reader along to a certain extent, regardless of the path chosen, there are ample opportunities to explore and discover along each of the main paths. This compensates for the lack of wide choices.

The detail found in earlier Lone Wolf books is amply provided in this book too. There is opportunity to use advanced skills like Divination and Telegnosis to learn secrets about the surroundings. Historical and geographical tidbits are strewn throughout the text. All the hallmarks of a fun adventure have been kept for the first Grand Master story and to boot, the book is thicker than anything that came before. Not only are all the touches there, but there are more of them for us to enjoy.

The Plague Lords of Ruel details many aspects of the Cener Druids and their fortress Mogaruith. This book is a rich source for those who wish to know more about these evil Druids and their evil ways. This book is also the first to introduce a glass sphere: a magic device through which the Dark God Naar can communicate with his minions. The glass sphere ups the ante, as it were, for the Grand Master series. Naar himself is now brought into the stories, whereas before he was in the background. It is one of the joys of book 13 that not only are the details and strengths of previous books present, but it is evident from them that the story of Lone Wolf is still moving forward.

The highlight of this book is Lone Wolf's meeting with Arch Druid Cadak in his chamber and the subsequent fight with Exterminus, and the destruction of the Plague Virus. But interestingly enough, the story does not end abruptly with Lone Wolf's success, as some other books do. The Plague Lords of Ruel, like the best among the other Lone Wolf books, keeps the story going with one of the most elaborate and exciting escape sequences in any book. By extending the narrative this way, the reader is left unsure exactly how the book will end, or what they are meant to do next. Uncertainly like this always adds to the enjoyment of a book. (See Shadow on the Sand for another excellent example.)

Not only does the story provide all we've come to expect and love about the Lone Wolf series, but in terms of game play and combat this is a well-balanced adventure. None of the opponents are impossible to beat and you stand a reasonable chance of surviving the combats in this adventure without having top scores, though as usual the Sommerswerd helps. There are crucial points in the book where your fate hangs on a well chosen random number, but in each case you can usually modify the value in your favour. There are also plenty of opportunities to use your disciplines to move the adventure along, or reveal special facts. When combining these gameplay elements with the strong writing and story of book 13, you are left with nothing short of a near perfect Lone Wolf adventure.

It is not entirely perfect, however. It is very frustrating to be killed because part of a bridge fell on you (by accident), when you have survived the perils of Mogaruith! It is cheap to have an ending like that one passage away from the end of the book. There are probably too many other places in this book where a random number can kill you. We can do without that last opportunity.

The Plague Lords of Ruel does many things. Not only does it present a virtuoso performance of the strengths of the Lone Wolf series, but it shows that the Grand Master series will continue to evolve the story of Lone Wolf with new and greater challenges. The book is also the largest so far and there are even larger texts in the future of the Grand Master series.

In my original copy from 1990, the passage 188 contains an error: it says simply "Grand Mastery" when it should say, "Grand Mastery of Nexus." I do not know if other printings have corrected this. There is also a typo in the story so far. The "n" is missing from "Ragadorn" in one place. Other than that, I can't comment further on errata in this book. It's been too long since I read it regularly, and I was never into the Grand Master series like I was the earlier books.

This material originally written by Robert Ekblad. Edited and embellished by Julian Egelstaff.