Literature / Battleblade Warrior

"Do you seriously think you can hide? Found you again!"

For six years Vymorna has been besieged ... but soon it must fall to the evil Lizard Men. Day after day you fight alongside your war-weary mother, Queen Perriel, but only divine assistance can save you now.
Then the great Lord Telak appears in a dream. YOU are the one chosen to seek out the weapon which will aid you and your city against the dark forces. Your mission will be fraught with danger but you must succeed ... YOU are Vymorna's only hope!

Battleblade Warrior is the 31^st entry of the Fighting Fantasy series of Gamebooks, written by Marc Gascoigne.

Set in Vymorna, a city in the world of Titan suffering from years and years of war, under siege from the Lizard Men empire, you are the Prince of the kingdom and leader of the army, who have spent years valiantly defending your empire from the might of the Lizard Men invasion.

When all hope seems lost, one night you received a prophetic dream... the great Lord Telak, the God and Patron Saint of Courage of Vymorna, has appeared to you to give you guidance on how to defeat the Lizard Men and liberate your kingdom. To free Vymorna from destruction, you must seek the Sword of Telak, to summon the help of gods and overcome the Lizard Men army!

Battleblade Warrior can be considered a Spiritual Successor to Island of the Lizard King; once again your foes are primarily Lizard Folk, and both books contains similar elements such as traversing through a swamp full of monsters, a massive war sequence where you lead an army of allies to battle against the Lizard Men army, and a shining MacGuffin weapon required to reach the perfect ending.

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Battleblade Warrior provides examples of:

• The Armies of Heaven: If you succeed in your quest and activate the Sword of Telak, a divine army of Golden Warriors will descend from the skies and deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to the Lizard Men army.
• Booby Trap: If you team up with Lecarte the hunter, you'll reach a sequence where the two of you set up explosive traps to kill several Lizard Men trackers.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Besides your trusty sword, you can also equip yourself with a bow at the beginning and use it to snipe Lizard Men from a distance.
• Call-Back: Alan Langford provides the illustrations for both Battleblade Warior and Island Of The Lizard King, and the artwork for the lizard men, monsters and dinosaurs bear close resemblance to each other.
• Continuity Nod: Lecarte said he obtained his supply of high-powered explosives (used to fry several Lizard Men) from Sardath.
  • This could be considered a Call-Forward as well, since Siege of Sardath was published after Battleblade Warrior.
• Cool Sword: The Sword of Telak. It summons an army from heaven which utterly destroys the Lizard Men's army.
• Divine Intervention: Your quest have you trying to invoke this to save your kingdom.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Lord Telak delivers a Prophetic Dream for you in the backstory on how to save Vymorna.
• Dressing as the Enemy: You can infiltrate an Orc's funeral dressed like this.
• Dungeon Bypass: It is possible to take a short cut and finish this book with only 10 or so mostly easy battles, the only mandatory Boss Battle being a SKILL 10 Swamp Mutant.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Lizard Men empire's army also includes goblin engineers, orc merceneries and other varieties of Chaotic races amongst their ranks.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: You can ally yourself with a ranger named Katya, but she will die regardless of which path you take and not be mentioned for the rest of the story.
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": You can crash into the funeral session of an Orc and slice up a few mourners.
• Giant Flyer: You get to fight a Lizard Man on a Pterodactyl mount.
• I Have Many Names: Lord Telak is also called "The Swordbearer", "The Shieldbearer" and "The Warrior", amongst others.
• Horse of a Different Color: There are Lizard Men warriors riding Raptors and giant lizards during the war sequence. You can also hijack a riderless giant lizard to escape when things go south.
• The High Queen: Queen Perriel of Vyrmona, your mother who provides you with most of your equipment for the quest. She's also a noble Lady of War who participates actively in the campaign against the Lizard Men.
• Human Pincushion: You come across the carcass of a poor warrior pinned to a tree by many arrows. You can search his corpse for belongings which he wouldn't be needing anymore.
• Lizard Folk: The Lizard Men empire, evidently.
• Man-Eating Plant: A killer pitcher plant will attempt to swallow you if you get too close to it.
• Master of Illusion: Laskar can conjure various illusions, including summoning a mountain-sized illusion of a tiger which is scary enough to make you lose STAMINA points!
• Mineral MacGuffin: The use the Sword of Telak, you need to power it with a precious gemstone and you'll come across different ones during your quest. Using the right gemstone is a matter of Trial-and-Error Gameplay.
• Monstrous Cannibalism: The rites of mourning in an Orcish funeral involves... wait for it... having every single one of the mourners taking a bite from the flesh of the dearly departed. Eww...
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The Lizard Man Champion is a mutant with 4 arms, who have slain several of your warriors in the battlefield.
• Nemean Skinning: The Black Panther Warrior tribesmen wears hoods made from skinned panthers.
• One-Book Author: This is notably the first and only Fighting Fantasy gamebook written by Marc Gascoigne.
• Our Zombies Are Different: In order to unlock the powers of the Sword of Telak, you'll need to fight a resurrected ancient warrior-king.
• Panthera Awesome: Another Call-Back to Island of the Lizard King, you can ally yourself with a hunter named Lecarte whose pet is a sabre-toothed tiger. Very handy for scaring away Lizard Men.
• Pet Monstrosity: Lecarte the Hunter have a sabre-toothed tiger as a pet.
• Posthumous Character: Your father, Alexandros the Second, the King of Vyrmorna is already dead before the adventure starts.
• Railroading: No matter what options you try, you'll always end-up fighting the orcs at the funeral. Try to sneak and go around them? You'll accidentally sneeze and give away your position. No one heard you sneeze? Well too bad, an orc who just arrived at the scene did! Disguise yourself as an orc? They'll eventually unmask you!
• Red Herring: You need a precious gemstone to power the Sword of Telak and you'll come across different ones during your journey. Hints point to a diamond, since it's hard to obtain and you need a Z-shaped key to unlock its chest. It's actually a false lead: the diamond will not work and using it to power the sword will lead to your death. The emerald on the Jaguarman King's crown is actually the correct gemstone.
• Recycled Premise: To Island of The Lizard King. Your enemies are primarily Lizard Folk, you have to cross a deadly swamp, fight angry natives, battle various mutant lizard men (including a two-headed Calacorm not unlike the two-headed Lizard Man mutant from Island), lead an army in a war sequence, and gain a shinning magic sword compulsory to succeed in your quest. Also, in both books during the war sequence you can attempt to turn the tide of battle by going for the champion of the Lizard Men army.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Your character, the Prince of Vymorna, naturally. The King and Queen also did their best to help out in the backstory.
• Siege Engines: While infiltrating the Lizard Men's fortress, you can sabotage one of these bombarding your kingdom, being maintained by goblin engineers overseen by a Lizard Man guard, and gain a quick LUCK bonus.
• Skippable Boss: The Lizard Man Champion, the most powerful warrior of the Lizard Men army, but thankfully not a compulsory boss fight.
• Snakes Are Sinister: If you run into the Snake People who roams the desert, you're screwed — regardless your SKILL, you'll get curb-stomped and crucified alive.
• Spider People: The Ishkarim, humanoid monsters on spider-like legs. They're also extremely tough - landing a hit on them only causes them to lose 1 STAMINA point.
• Swamps Are Evil: You get to cross one filled with dangerous mutants.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: You will NEVER win without the Sword Of Telak.
• Vine Swing: The Panther Warriors will get the drop on you using this method. You can also do this while descending from the Lion Heights.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: While your enemies are primarily Lizard Men, you can also run afoul of native tribesmen, hobgoblins, an orcish tribe unrelated to the Lizard Men, rat men and other enemies acting independently on their own.
• The War Sequence; Just like in Island of the Lizard King, you can lead an army of warriors to battle against the Lizard Men army too.
• War God: Oh great Telak, show us your divine guidance, to liberate Vyrmorna and deliver us from the ruthless Lizard Men empire!
• Warrior Prince: Your hero.

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