Item - Ultimatum

The final adventure in the Crown of Klade Tunnels & Trolls campaign is a new one, written specifically for the MetaArcade app by Paul Movitz. It's set in Gull, the City of Terrors, featuring characters from that and other previous adventures. Our hero's friend Marek, head of the Thieves' Guild, and the prince rescued in Hot Pursuit act as patrons. They want the hero to kill the mad wizard Biorom from Sewers of Oblivion as well as Duke Ravacz from Mistywood.

What I find a bit strange is that the prince forces me (as the hero) to accept this mission. Of course I want to kill the Duke who has long been sending his henchmen after me. No need to threaten me, my prince!

Biorom, on the other hand, must die before the duke even arrives, so that he cannot aid him. I've nothing against killing evil wizards, but assassinating them just to prevent them from helping their friends seems a pretty weak motivation to me.

Anyway, I've no choice. The prince gave me an Ultimatum. It's even in the title. Kill the wizard first, then the Duke. Off I go.

The tower of the wizard Biorom consists of merely three rooms to visit or leave alone. After that, I have to defeat him. There's not a lot to see, but the second part is even drier: The final encounter with Ravacz is made up of huge chunks of text without any choices. It's not bad reading, mind you: old friends from previous adventures reappear.

After that, the final fight. No decisions, no thinking. Roll the dice. The Duke is a truly formidable foe. 200 dice fill your screen. Only a beefed-up hero, level 20 or higher, will stand a chance. Thus ends the Crown of Klade campaign. I admit I felt some relief, but it wasn't quite the climax I had been looking for.

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