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Quote:
A slippery ladder disappears into the dark, stench-filled shaft. You gulp a lungful of air and climb down, locking the trapdoor behind you. When you finally reach the bottom of the shaft, your worst fears are confirmed.
You have entered the Baga-darooz, the main drainage sewer of Barrakeesh. You recall one of the crewmen aboard the galley, an old man nicknamed 'The Stink' because he smelled so much, having been sentenced to one year's imprisonment in the Baga-darooz for a crime he did not commit. Peering along the gloomy tunnels, you wonder how he survived for so long in this dank, filthy sewer.
Suddenly your thoughts are disturbed by the sound of splintering wood. Chunks of shattered timber rain down upon you as the Sharnazim force open the trapdoor. The heavy iron grille glances off your shoulder as it falls; you stifle a cry of pain, but you lose 1 ENDURANCE point due to the wound.
This section of the Baga-darooz is a junction where three channels meet. You must quickly decide which channel to take, for Maouk's men are now descending the ladder.
I have three options. Left, right, straight, or use Tracking. Tracking tells me that the right channel is sluggish, suggesting it is going north. The vast tide of sewage goes to the coast and the sea, so north for right, and the coast. Left, then, goes south and back into Barrakeesh proper. I should be able to find many ways out of the Baga-darooz and into the streets. Straight is west. It is the least fetid and cleanest of the three channels. The west channel leads to an aqueduct that provides fresh and clean water to the city. So, south, north, or west.
I choose west. Clean is good for me. As I go, I see huge cockroaches through the ceiling, and it is still thick with grime and debris. I hear some sudden splashes behind me that suggest that Maouk’s men are here. I suddenly hear a strange sound I had not expected to hear here. The sound of scaled skin slithering over stone. I can just make out the creature coming toward me. I can use Animal Kinship and do.
It tells me the reptile is a Kwarez, a giant creeping reptile. They are native to the Maakenmire swamp leagues away from here, but it must find the sewers close to its home environment. It’s giant claws are getting closer. It is very susceptible to psychic attacks. My Animal Kinship quickly persuades it that I am not appetizing at all, and it loses interest in me. It turns and keeps moving towards where Maouk’s men are. I keep going, and I hear the scream of one of his men dying.
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