Literature / The Fortress of the Black Cauldron

These things happen.

"You only live once. And if you do well, once is enough."

The Adventures of the Pyro-Barbarian and Billy in the Forteress of the Black Cauldron is the first volume of The Saga Of Billy, a series of Sword and Sorcery gamebooks written by Bob Lennon and David Kuhn and illustrated by C.Sideralis. It was released in 2021.

After witnessing the death of everyone in your hometown, wiped out by a plague, you decide to leave the farming life behind you and go live the same kind of adventurous existence your grandfather led before retiring in the middle of nowhere to plant pumpkins.With the the bottomless bag your mentor left you and the help of one of his old acquaintances, a hot-blooded barbarian, it's up to you to save the kingdom (and yourself) from the terrible Virilus.

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This work provides examples of:

• Affably Evil: If you free her and let her be, the vampiress will either accept to only feed on criminals for ten years, or give you a vial of her blood.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After participating in a drinking contest, forming coherent thoughts is beyond your capacity. Fortunately, the barbarian quickly plunges your head into a through to make you regain some sort of consciousness. Another drunkard may mistake you for somebody he hates and try to attack you.
• Always Someone Better: Despite being shown to be the best warrior around for almost the whole book, the PB is curb-stomped by Arcadia and will be killed by Virilus if he duels him without your help.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: The old sorcerer is not a bad man at heart, and has simply been manipulated by Virilus and Funeste, although it did not take much to convince him.
• And the Adventure Continues: The normal (canon) endings result in this.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Once Virilus is defeated and Lennonia is freed, you party with the survivors while the gods do same at the top of the Mountain of the Judge.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Whatever choice you make throughout your adventure, the narration will never shame you or make you feel guilty, even if you should defect to Virilus' side. Other characters may not approve, but that's another thing.
• Arcadia: Plant-Pumpkin was this to your grandfather, and it can be the same to you in a few endings.
• Arch-Enemy: Uther and Virilus were the central forces of each of their sides during the last war. Now you oppose the dark lord with the same kind of tactics that your grandfather used against him, making Uther's bloodline Virilus' true arch-enemy.
• Artifact of Doom: The titular Black Cauldron, which can strenghten anyone who uses it as a phylactery, and grant any whish without the approval of the gods, provided that you use the good ingredients.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Each general of Virilus is a strong warrior by himself, and the dark lord can best any man or beast in his army in single combat.
• Author Appeal: Bob Lennon said in interview that knew that the names of Virilus' and his generals sounded extremely hammy, but he liked the idea to have simple and straight-forward antagonists for the first installment.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In the armury of the citadel, you can find a mix between a mandoline and an axe that you dub a Mandaline (mandale being argotic french for punch or slap), but it breaks on first use, although its victim dies all the same. The PB keeps the idea on the back of his head so he can ask his guild to build a sturdier one someday.
• Badass Army: The kränelornian barbarians form one if the PB unites them. Virilus' troops are also quite badass, but the time you spend hiding among them humanizes them.
• Badass Bystander:
  • If you free the two farmers, they calmly rip out the jaws of the giant wolverines who gave the P.B. a hard time.
  • The emprisonned women will kill the guards and strangle the trolless with their chains if the P.B. distracts her.
• Badass Teacher: The PB starts to train you in the alternate warrior ending, until you become just as good of a fighter as him.
• Bar Brawl: You can get rid of a group of Virilus' soldiers who are busy drinking by throwing a keg at one of them and waiting for everyone to start fighting. You will still be forced into fighting, but most of the drunkards will focus on hitting each other.
• BFS: Virilus uses a flamberge. One-handed.
• Big Bad: Virilus fills this role for the first book.
• The Big Guy:
  • Among mortals, the PB is already one, but Virilus is almost as high as one P.B. and a half, and Massacre is even bigger.
  • Among gods, Mutra is challenged only by Runir and Zarkan.
• Bizarre Beverage Use: As a resourceful Billy, you can cover your blades in bad booze to poison your foe.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: If Virilus ascends, our concepts of morality disappear.
  Virilus: From now on, there is no good nor evil, no life nor death. There is only VIRILUS!
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Felix is one of the most stern and badass guys in a cast of cool characters, but he is so sweet around Luci that she feels obligated to praise his skills to his clients when she is with him, as she is afraid that he might be underestimated.
• The Brute: General Massacre plays this role in the army of the dark lord, and follows this trope even more thoroughly once he becomes undead, being mute and absolutely focused in his task.
• But Now I Must Go:
  • After releasing you from your cell, Fanta leaves you and the P.B. to deal with Virilus and his army on your own.
  • In all of the normal endings, having saved Lennonia and Erenner, you spend all of your money and then go back to adventuring. If you don't the PB will go on his own.
• Butt-Monkey: The elf shaman may look intimidating, but it doesn't matter who you are, you will curbstomp him and he will die an undignified death. That is, if he does not slip and kills himself all on his own.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The PB calls a saber-tooth tiger "smidolon" rather than a smilodon.
• Chairman of the Brawl: If you fight Mortelle with the help of your friends, you will knock her out for a few seconds with a wooden chair.
• Children Are Innocent: The children you can rescue during Virilus' invasion of Lennonia only have a limited understanding of the situation. You, the PB and an older kid can ensure that they will stay that way.
• Combat Sadomasochist: If Felix strangles him, you will learn that Funeste gains as much pleasure from the pain he receives as from that he inflicts.
• Country Mouse: When you arrive in town at the beginning of your adventure, you are completely disoriented.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: If the PB duels Virilus, he will be killed without inflicting a major wound, but both fighters were pushed to their limits, and even Virilus will recognize your friend as a worthy opponent.
• Dance Battler: The shaman tries to be one. The key word being "tries".
• Debt Detester: The P.B. originally helps you because he owes it to Fanta. If Solia kills you, he will unite all Kränelorn under his rule and conquering the whole world, bringing it under the Hegemony of Man and killing every non-human, only considering his debt payed after the death of the last of them.
• Defensivefeint Trap: You can kill a few enemies this way.
• Deity of Human Origin: You can become one if the PB conquers the world and kills every non-human in your name, and so can Virilus if he manages to complete his ritual.
• Dem Bones: The legion of the dead of Virilus is entirely composed of walking skeletons.
• Determinator:
  • After losing his entire army thanks to the efforts of Hard-Tooth-Uther, losing the favor of Vetherr, and being almost killed, Virilus could still muster the strength and the will to climb the highest peak in existence before facing the best warrior among the gods Erenner. Even after being forced to leave by Zarkan, he reformed his army with the objective to destroy the gods themselves. If you stop the ritual and thwart his plans once again, he will still keep on fighting you and the PB, no matter how wounded he already is.
  • Even after her whole group has beenexterminated and devoured by Mortelle, Solia comes back to fight the arachnauress.
  • When Virilus disarms the PB and defenestrates him, your friend just grabs onto something and comes back for more.
• Divine Intervention: If you duel Arcadia the vampiress, Zarkan (god of duels and adversity) and Edire (goddess of life and death) will give you their mutual blessing, which will grant you great dexterity and strength in addition to protection from her bite.
• Do Not Go Gentle: If Virilus ascends to godhood, Zarkan will fight him for a thousand years before being finally defeated and slayed.
• Doomed Hometown: The entire population of Plant-Pumpkin has been wiped out by a plague, and you are the only survivor. However, this trope can be Reconstructed, as you wanted more from this life than spending it cultivating pumpkins anyway. Moreover, in most endings, people (sometimes even you) invest the place and live there once again.
• Dragon Rider: If you manage to tame the lesser red dragon, you and the PB can ride him to reach the mighty citadel.
• Drinking Contest: You can participate in one in exchange for Luci's information.
• Drunk Rolling: The contest was all so that Luci could pickpocket your distracted opponent.
• Dumb Muscle: Massacre is one of the most physically impressive characters of the book, but certainly not the smartest.
• Empowered Badass Normal: You briefly become one when Zarkan and Edire give you their blessing to fight the vampiress. Thanks to them, you temporarily become extremely skilled and sturdy.
• Evil Virtues: Virilus is the embodiement of ambition, becoming the god of Hunger if he ascends, and is a villainous determinator who has never stopped trying to better himself physically and intellectually for hundreds of years. He is ready to listen to the propositions of his generals. He is always honest with you and does not try to bluff. He respects you and the PB simply for being able to reach his throne room and will fight you without calling for reinforcements.
• Exotic Extended Marriage: If you and the PB go your separate ways immediatly after you saved Lennonia and came back to Plant-Pumpkin, next time you will meet him, he will be engaged in a group marriage with five women and have nine children.
• Face Death Withdignity:
  • Once he is mortally wounded, Virilus will go back to his throne and sit before passing away. If the P.B. is killed in his duel against him, he just smiles and express how glad he is for such a beautiful fight.
  • Averted with most of the other deaths which are shown to be painful and/or pathetic when they are not Played for Laughs.
• False Friend: It turns out you were one to the PB in the "The world needs a Lich-king" ending.
• Feeling Their Age: In the alternate warrior ending, the PB comments that he needs more time to recuperate than he did before, and that his sight is worsening.
• The Fog of Ages: The sorceror is now lost in it, though his sister can serve as one of his last anchor points to sanity.
• A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: This is how you want to end up. If you go back to adventuring, you must stay light, and gold will only weigh you down. If you go back to your life in Plant-Pumpkin, you don't need that much money to begin with. If you become a Gentleman Thief, you can just amass just as much as you currently have in a few days. After all, being a rich man wasn't your goal anyway. So no matter how rich you become over the course of the book, you will do whatever you can to be as poor as you were at the beginning. If you are wealthy, you party until you lose everything, and if you simply have to much to spend, you will use it to rebuild Lennonia and make a statue of Hard-Tooth-Uther.
• For Science!: The sorcerer spends his long life isolated in his tower, endlessly researching.
• Friendly Skeleton: The skull has no interest in serving Virilus and may give you a hint to find the treasure of the citadel if you are nice to him.
• Gargle Blaster: You are presented with one at the beginning of your adventure, that you can choose to drink or not.
• God-Eating: This is what Virilus plans to do once he ascends to godhood (fittingly, he becomes the god of hunger if he manages to do so).
• God Job: Phumtar, a platypus, became one of the most important god in the pantheon, and you can become the fortuitous of unintentional consequences, of incontrolled spirals, and of hazardous situations.
• Godly Sidestep: Virilus has climbed all the way up to the peak of the Mountain of the Judge in his quest for the TRUTH, but Zarkan refused to let him pass, giving him a simple snow globe for all his efforts.
• Godhood Seeker: Virilus thinks that ascnding to godhood will allow him to satiate his eternal hunger.
• Geo Effects:
  • When crooked guards are chasing you, you can trap them by using street corners to ambush them one after the other.
  • You can kill the trolless charged with guarding prisoners by blinding her with sand when she is charging you and bashing her into a spiked barricade to impale her.
• Good Bad Girl: The reptilian maid is a particularly kind and friendly individual who has chosen to serve Ytia of her own volition, as she sees it as a commendable profession.
• The Good Guys Always Win: Completely averted in-game: multiple endings showcase the demise of our heroes.
• Götterdämmerung: If Virilus manages to kill you and merge with you as you die, he will battle with the gods for eons, notably duelling Zarkan for a thousand years before finally slaying him.
• Graceful Loser:
  • During the tournament, if you beat the gnoll, he will simply laugh it off, and if you defeat the trolless, she will commend you for your prowess and recognize you as one of the best elements of Virilus' army.
  • Likewise, after his defeat, Virilus shows no hatred nor contempt for you or the PB
• Grievous Bottley Harm: If the hobo attacks you, he will do so using a broken bottle as a Sinister Shiv.
• Groin Attack: If you beat the familiar orc during the tournament, you will do so with a knee to the groin that hurts every male in the room.
• Growing Up Sucks: Zig-Zagged. Acting as a grown-up may be hard, but it is more of a state of mind than an actual age. Or as Uther, the PB and eventually you put it: "Be a child when you can, and an adult when you must."
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: You are a mostly innocent teenager, and the official illustrations often depict you as blonde boy.
• Hair-Trigger Temper:
  • Discussed by Billy and Father Isabel in the case of Edire.
    Billy: She looks kind, but a bit strict.
    Isabel: —Ah, course, eh! Sure, you shouldn't spite her, y'know. Like any great lady, she can be a bit hot-tempered. [...] But she really has a good heart. And I understand her, eh. Gotta be a bit demanding from time to time, with all those undead that are still saunting.
  • Massacre is quick to anger if you point out which information he let slip through.
• Haughty "Hmph": When you are trying to disrupt the ritual, if you pray to Edire, she will strengthen you rather than help you to destroy the Black Cauldron. Your distraught reaction earns you this from the smug goddess.
• Hero of Another Story: Luci and Felix already had their fair share of adventures before you came along. Especially Felix.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Right now, Luci is a witted pickpocket, but she had to survive on her own after the death of her father until she learned the tricks of the trade. She has yet to fully come to terms with her past, though she hides it well enough.
  • The P.B. may seem to be little more than a untaught barbarian, but he learnt an inhuman laguage out of spite for gobelins, has the potential to unite an ever divided people, successfully lead an army and rule an empire. He can also play the mandoline.
• Home Sweet Home: If a dangerous life does not suit you, you will go back to Plant-Pumpkin, and will live an uneventful but happy life.
• Honor Before Reason: The PB will never accept to serve Virilus if the occasion present itself, prefering a duel over a chance to live.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The reptilian maid is one of these. If you choose her, you rapidly become friends and she gives you one of her scales, which is actually a very powerful artefact that can give you a permanent power-up or be used to skip one of the most difficult fight of the book.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: A few decades ago, the forces of Virilus threatened all of Alkior. The Uther came along, and Virilus had to spend years to regain a fraction of his military power.
• I Control My Minions Through...: Virilus can assmeble his armies because he is respected by most of his minions, mostly thanks to his strength and the power of the Black Cauldron. He also keeps Funeste in check by giving him an outlet to his sadism, and Mortelle by a mix of strength and sexual favors (he is strong enough to be able to fend her of and not be consumed after the act, which intrigues her enough to stay in his army).
• I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: Massacre presents himself as the General Massacre, but he is surprised when Billy deduces that Virilus is forming an army.
• Improvised Weapon: If you defeat Mortelle with the help of your friends, you use a chair to knock her out for a few seconds.
• In Harm's Way: The normal endings consist of you and the PB going back on the roads of Alkior, in search of more adventures.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Implied to be the reason why Funeste serves Virilus.
• Innocently Insensitive: If you ask Solia about her ponytail, you will learn the hard way that you just told the centauress that her head looks like her butthole. This innocent question can even be the starting point of a series of events that will bring about a terrible genocide and a new world order.
• In the Back:
  • If you fail to stop the ritual, the dark lord gets behind you to impale you on his flamberge.
  • The P.B. finishes Virilus by plunging his axe in the dark lord's back, and then in his torso once he turns around.
• I Shall Taunt You: Before fighting Virilus, you can mock his relationship with Mortelle.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: If you beat the familiar orc during the tournament, after throwing your knee between his legs, you will crush his jaw under your foot so he cannot reveal your identity.
• Knight Templar: Father Isabel mostly averts this, being a reasonable man conscious of his goddess' flaws and having no qualms helping those unaffiliated to his order. However, he is showing little restraint when faced with the remains of an undead.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": The P.B. cherishes his old memory of the time Uther played with him before giving him an advice he has followed ever since. He is utterly shocked to learn that you are his hero's grandson and that he died a simple farmer.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In the Garden, if you do not run away when the PB tells you to, you will die trying to save him.
• Long-Lived: The sorcerer and his sister are over a hundred years old, and Virilus does not seem to age.
• Man Bites Man:
  • In this case, it is Man Bites Vampiress. If you duel Asmodia, you will end this grueling fight by biting her jugular and ripping it out.
  • The P.B. can also end his fight with the giant wolverines by pulling a few of their vertebraes out of their backs with his own teeth. Squick indeed.
• Miniature Senior Citizen: The soothsayer has a small stature, even compared to you.
• Mission from God: You are on a mission from Zarkan, although you are not aware of it. You can also act on Édire's behalf more willingly.
• The Mole:
  • Most of the street guards of Lennonia have been bought by Funeste, which allows the forces of Virilus to quickly seize the city.
  • You and the P.B. can also pretend to be part of the dark lord's army to approch him more easily.
• Mook Chivalry: Averted, unless the leader is a Noble Demon who wishes to duel you or the P.B. and asks his troops to wait.
• Moral Event Horizon: You cross it if you use the power of the Black Cauldron to absorb the souls of most living beings in Lennonia, becoming Billylus.
• Motor Mouth: Downplayed, as Solia is talkative, but merely provides her companions with a pleasant distraction.
• Necromancer: Virilus uses the power of the Black Cauldron to create a legion of the dead.
• Noble Demon: Virilus plays this by the book. He may be an evil army leader wishing to attain godhood, but he does not call for reinforcements when you fight him, always keep his word and answers any questions you might have truthfully.
• Nobody Poops: Averted, as you painfully learn when you are locked up with a full chained barbarian, and have to hold the bucket...
• No Fair Cheating: If you try to get into the Magician's tower, you will have to go through a guard first. To do so, one of your options is to hand him the pass he demands. It's a trap! There is no way to obtain a pass in this book, so if you chose this option, you cheated, and the guard calls his colleagues, who promptly kill you. Worse of all, you are supposed to go back to the beginning of the book, rather than the beginning of the act.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Virilus may have a calm discussion with you before drawing his sword, but once you begin fighting, he is completely focused on killing you and your friend.
• No Such Thing as Dehydration: Averted. You and the PB regularly eat and drink during you adventure.
• Older and Wiser: If Uther played it straight, the P.B. subverts this: if he does not keep walking on the same path until his death, he may settle down, but forsaking his violent ways for the sake of his family will not make him wiser.
• Ominous Floating Castle: Virilus' citadel is a flying fortress.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: According to the illustrations, Virilus uses his flamberge this way. It is somewhat justified by his size and the fact he needs his left arm to use his magic gauntlet.
• Orcus on His Throne: Virilus plays it straighter than an arrow. He even goes back to sit on it before passing away.
• Properly Paranoid: If you are a cautious character, you can identify a man trailing you.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: This is how the PB will see you if you use the power of the Black Cauldron to become Billylus.
• The Quisling: You can ultimately decide to turn your back on Erenner and join Virilus if you are cautious. You strike a deal with him, becoming responsible for supplying his armies with food. You then live a long and fulfilling life in Plant-Pumpkin, learning to appriciate the company of the troops of the dark lord.
• Rags to Riches: When you begin your adventure, you are wearing everything you own. If you have enough wealth points by the end of the book, you have enough money that you have a hard time spending it all.
• Rash Promise:
  • You may swear that you will purge the Crypt of rats of all undead presence to please Solia, but learning that there is a vampiress inside (and that you can leave her alone) might make you want to go back on that promise.
  • Averted by the barbarian who will refuse to promise anything, arguing that prefers paying old debts before creating new ones for himself.
• Reality Warper: The true power of the Black Cauldron is to allow one to alter reality without the permission of the gods.
• A Round of Drinks for the House: If you end up with considerable wealth, this is one of the ways you can spend it.
• Sadist: Exaggerated with Funeste, who takes extreme erotic pleasure in the suffering of others, and makes all of his furniture out of the bodies of his victims.
• Sex God: The Pleasurer, high priest of Ytia, can be considered to be this among mortals.
• Shout-Out: Among the many shout-outs and references, there are some to Santa Claus Is a Stinker, The Simpsons, Skyrim, David Bowie, Arsène Lupin, World of Warcraft, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Dragon Ball, Asterix, Fort Boyard, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Mad Max: Fury Road, Mortal Kombat, Secrets d'Histoire, L'Oréal, Conan the Barbarian, Discworld, Tintin, Gremlins and various internet memes.
• Single Malt Vision: If you win the drinking contest, you will briefly try to interact with Luci and her two sisters before starting to throw up.
• The Smart One Turns Traitor: You may defect from Erenner's side, but the P.B. will still challenge the dark lord.
• Scatterbrained Senior: The sorcerer may be an intelligent man, but he is often confused these days, constantly forgetting what he was doing, even when what he was doing was trying to kill someone.
• The Stoic: Felix almost never shows any emotion, even when he is bound and about to be tortured.
• Superpowers For A Day: The blessing of Edire and Zarkan, which grants you one third of Virilus' skill in addition to your own, only lasts as long as your fight with Asmodia. Drinking the Bottle of Pure Magic has the will have the same effect for the first phase of your fight with Virilus.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Averted, as you can repair a guard's sleeve with your sewing kit.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: It is unclear whether Zarkan guards the TRUTH from humanity as a whole or if Virilus was simply unworthy.
• To Absent Friends: During the festivities following the liberation of Lennonia, you will raise a few toasts for the few who did not see the end of the occupation.
• Too Kinky to Torture: You will find that Funeste takes being choked as nothing more than an escalation of his previous enjoyment. That does not save him from his imminent death.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: If you have the funds to raise a statue commemorating your grandfather Uther, all the titles, names and nicknames that the PB remembers will be written on a plaque.
  ''HARD-TOOTH-UTHER
  LEGENDARY HERO

EMPEROR UTHER IX. UTHER THE BLOODTHIRSTY. UTHER THE INVINCIBLE. UTHER THE MAD. UTHER THE BREATHING. UTHER THE GREY HAND. UTHER THE SOWER. GUTS-TWISTER UTHER. UTHER THE ROUND SQUARE. UTHER YOU-CAN-ALL-GO-FUCK-YOURSELVES. UTHER THE BADLY CHOSEN. UTHER THE TERRIBLE.
Grandpa Pumpkin.''

• Undignified Death: You and the PB can inflict a lot of these, whether it's making a group of orcs' throats explode, crushing a goblin under an anvil, leaving a vampiress to choke on her own blood or crushing her head by hitting her repeatedly with an axe, burning the eyes of an orc with your seeds, or anything you will do to the shaman.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • The three generals of Virilus will do anything he asks of them.
  • Should you defect from Erenner's side, the monsters you will befriend will forever be thankful for teaching them to read a few words and count up to twenty. Your skills for mathematics will earn their eternal admiration, and they will remember you fondly long after your death.
• Unsuspectingly Soused: When you ask for water at the Hydrated Barbarian, you will be served a glass of the bartender's special mixture. Since it is see-through that you had always been told that water was not as pure in the city as at home, you will conclude that it is indeed water. Fortunately, the barbarina will warn you before you try to drink it.
• Useless Useful Spell: Most of the sorcerer's work amounts to this, although he is capable to do far better: he is just not as interested by what people could actually benefit from.
• Villain-Beating Artifact: Simply showing the reptilian scale to the lesser red dragon is enough to terrify him into submission.
• Villainous Valor: Virilus may be fighting alone against the two who people who already killed his generals and many of his soldiers, and still stand before him mostly unscathed, but he never backs down.
• Villains Never Lie: As the noble demon he is, Virilus never tries to lie to you or anyone else.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: If you are a cautious Billy and managed to fight only twice over the course of the book, you will decide that you have had enough adventures for a whole life and go back to Plant-Pumpkin.
• We Can Rule Together: Interestingly, you can be the one to make this proposition to the Big Bad, and he will accept. After pointing out that killing you does not really benefit his [Evil Plan plan]] in any significant way, and that since you and the PB killed all of his generals before reaching his throne room, you can serve him well, he will offer you the lands and titles you desire.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Defied throughout most of the story, as you and the P.B. show just as much violence towards humans as you do towards non-humans. Centaur, elves and orcs can also live within the human population despite being creatures of Vetherr, the Enemy of Man, as they are not necessarily bad people at heart (although they are sometimes subjected to racism). The only reason why you kill more non-humans is because Virilus' army is full of them. There are however two races that are shown to truly be Always Chaotic Evil are the dark elves and the archnauresses, who will both gladly torture and devour anything that crosses there path, be it monster or man. It is Justified if Solia kills you as the PB will not lead an extermination of the entire non-human population of Alkior because he thinks it is fair, but because he will see it as the only way to repay his debt. Nevertheless, he will play this trope straight with goblins, following the kränelorian tradition of despising them and killing as many of them as he possibly can.
• "Will Return" Caption: ''Continue your epic adventures in the Volume II of the Saga of Billy: THE HORN OF IVORY SANDS"
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Virilus and the PB recognize each other as such in terms of martial prowess; the dark lord extends this respect to your grandfather and you, as your wits offer an interesting counter to his raw power.
  • If you manage to beat the trolless, she will recognize you as great element of her master's army.
• Would Hurt a Child: Dark elves certainly would eat the children they are gaurding if they did not have received the order to keep them as slaves.
• Zero-Effort Boss: Played for Laughs with the elf shaman. He is responsible for the torture and murder of many innocents, and he has imprisoned a vampiress (one of the most dangerous creatures in this world), feeding on the power of her tainted blood. When he sees you and the PB, who warned you of the threat his curses represents, he starts an intimidating ritual dance and throws a small duel effigy at you...
  • If you are a warrior, you catch the effigy and send it back to him, breaking his nose before ending him. The barbarian commands you for such a quick duel.
  • If you are a farmer, the effigy just bounces of your brow, and when his chants and his dance start to irritate you, you just walk up to him and break his neck. The barbarian laughs and explain you what the shaman wanted to do.
  • If you are cautious, you focus on the effigy that fell on the ground and understand what it is. While you are occupied, he tries to rush you, but slips in a puddle of blood and impales himself on the ornamentation. The barbarian congratulates you on your technique, impressed that you managed to kill your enemy without even touching him.
  • If you are resourceful, you wait for a dance move which leaves him defenseless and kill him immediately. The barbarian is disappointed that you attacked him without letting him finish his presentation.

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