smashes into the rim of the moat surrounding the tower. Death is mercifully swift.
Sadly, your life and your duel end here.
91
Luckily, this acid-spitter has emptied its sac of corrosive venom and you are able to make good your escape from the hall without being spat upon as you leave. You reach the door and discover it is unlocked. Without hesitation, you pull it open and hurry through into the hall beyond.
Turn to 220 .
92
The broken buttress and the rope plummet into the fissure and are lost when they hit an underground river far below. Steel Hand swings one-handedly from the ceiling yet he manages to maintain his grip, despite being showered with loose rocks and dust. You command him to return and he obeys readily.
As soon as Steel Hand is back on solid ground, you praise his skill and his brave effort. Only ill luck thwarted him. He offers to try again but you say that it is your turn — he has already proved his courage. Blazer offers you his rope and you accept it; then you walk along the edge of the fissure until you reach the wall. You find it easy to ascend the rough surface and work your way across to a point directly above the fissure. From here you fix the rope to a secure beam and cast the other end to your companions waiting below. One by one you watch them swing across the void and, when all have crossed safely, you untie the rope and make your way over to the far side to join them.
‘Come, my lords,’ you say, as you jump effortlessly down from the wall, ‘we must press on. We've a trail to find.’
Turn to 160 .
93
You try to evade the crackling light that speeds towards you from the muzzle of the warrior's spear, but the wounds and fatigue you have sustained conspire to dull your reactions. You are hit in the side by this white-hot beam and hurled high into the air. Suddenly an explosion of white light obliterates your senses and, in a horrifying instant, the light that is your life is snuffed out.
Tragically, your life and your duel with Wolf's Bane end here.
96
You muster your psychic defences and construct a wall around your mind to protect yourself from this agonizing mental assault. Your strategy is effective, although the effort it requires depletes your reserves of strength (lose 3 ENDURANCE points).
This psychic assault has been one of the worst you have ever experienced. You have survived, but your Kai senses tell you that your ordeal has not ended; it has only just begun. You force open your eyes and look with dread at the terrible threat confronting you now.
Turn to 300 .
97
One of the arrows grazes your right forearm and gouges a furrow of skin from the top of your right thigh. You stifle a cry, but the intense pain that grips your injured limbs warns you at once that the tip of the arrow was tainted with poison.
Your innate healing skills counter the poison before it can do its deadly work, but your body's defences draw heavily on your reserves of strength and the curing process leaves you feeling weak and light-headed: lose 4 ENDURANCE points.
To continue, turn to 70 .
98
‘Come, Grand Master. You're going home,’ she says, and she takes you by the hand and leads you to the middle of the banquet hall, to a place directly opposite the great fireplace. ‘But first we must make preparations for the journey.’
Alyss then proceeds to remove an amulet from around the throat of your slain adversary. She presses it into your palm and tells you to put it on immediately. (Record this Special Item on your Action Chart as Wolf's Bane's Amulet, which you wear on a chain around your neck. You must discard another Special Item in its favour if you already possess the maximum permissible.)
When you have done as she requests, she then touches her finger to the two amulets that you now wear, and she smiles.
‘Good, good,’ she enthuses, ‘these baubles will take care of you.’
She then takes a piece of limestone from her pocket and proceeds to draw a pentagram on the floor