Prompted by curiosity, you leave Andarin’s tomb and go to look at the alcoves which encircle the walls of this chamber. Only a few urns remain wholly intact within the arched recesses, and each of these is engraved with the likeness of the Drodarin lord whose ashes they contain. Your eye is drawn to one in particular—the cinerary urn of War-thane Svann. Yet it is not the urn itself that captures your interest; it is the small bronze lever concealed behind it.
Carefully you remove Svann’s urn and examine the lever. Immediately your Kai senses inform you that it operates a secret panel in the wall.
(I use KA)
Prompted by the warnings of your Kai Sixth Sense, you speak the words of the Brotherhood Spell Sense Evil and focus your powers upon the lever, the alcove, and its surrounding wall. You detect that there is indeed a concentration of evil nearby, but suddenly you realize that it is nowhere near the alcove wall. The evil is in the passageway leading to the door of the chamber … and it is approaching fast
(I use the lever)
The lever clicks down and a secret panel in the wall slides open to reveal a narrow passage. As you are peering along this gloomy tunnel, suddenly the heavy chamber door bursts open and slams against the wall.
An icy trickle of fear runs down your back when you turn to look upon the squat creature that is now framed in the doorway. It has a bloated, veined body and waxy skin that is as pale as a frozen corpse. From its fanged mouth there flickers a forked tongue, and its scarlet eye-slits radiate an evil light that chills you to the bone. It advances into the chamber with its arms outstretched, as if it is walking in its sleep. Then it turns and points its arms at you, and its clenched fists begin to glow like two balls of red-hot plasma.
You take hold of the stonework that frames the secret panel and pull yourself towards the narrow passageway. You are only halfway through the opening when two orbs of living flame leap from the creature’s glowing fists and come arcing towards your spine.
Pick a number from the Random Number Table. If you possess Grand Huntmastery, add 2 to the number you have picked. If you possess Assimilance, add 1
(I autopass)
The speeding fireballs explode harmlessly in the entrance as you make good your escape along this cobwebbed passage. In the distance, you glimpse the opening to a chamber that is crowded with objects that glitter enticingly in the half-light. When you magnify your vision, you realize with some amazement that you are running towards a secret Drodarin treasure vault.
The sound of falling masonry alerts you to a renewed danger: the creature is attempting to pursue you. Chunks of crumbling plaster are being dislodged from the walls as the creature forces its bloated body along the narrow passageway.
(I have Grand Path)
Your Kai Mastery warns you that you are running towards a deadly trap. One of the dusty stone slabs which pave this narrow passageway is set to trigger the trap when a weight is placed upon it. Your Kai Sixth Sense helps you to identify the slab, and as you get nearer, you increase your speed in preparation to jump over it.
Pick a number from the Random Number Table.
If you possess Grand Huntmastery, add 2 to the number you have picked. If your current ENDURANCE score is 16 or lower, deduct 2.
(I toss a 3 and get a 7)
You clear the slab, and as you race towards the treasure vault, the passageway is filled with the terrible roar of a fireball. The instant you pass through the vault’s archway, you dodge to one side and cover your head with your hands. This timely action saves you from being scorched by the searing heat of the missile as it whooshes past and explodes among the treasures stored in this chamber.
As the fire dies out, you hear another sound—the dull clunk! of a trap being activated. You glance back into the passageway and see that your pursuer has stepped on a weighted floor slab, triggering a volley of deadly arrows. Unable to turn in the narrow confines of the passage, it is skewered by more than a dozen of these bone-tipped shafts. With a hellish shriek, the creature’s corpulent body erupts into a great ball of flame that burns with such fierce intensity that the beast is quickly reduced to a heap of white-hot ash.
(Nice. I m fully healed at this passage by the by)
Now that the creature is no longer a threat, you turn away from the scorching heat that is radiating from its ashes, and you begin to explore this mysterious treasure chamber.
The walls of the vault are decorated with murals that glorify the Goddess Ishir. Great carved tables, heaped with dusty gems and ingots of precious metal, form a circle around a golden statue of the goddess which stands upon a crystal dais in the middle of the chamber. Resting against the dais are several ancient artefacts of special value. Three of these items in particular catch your eye:
Korlinium Chainmail Vest (This Special Item can be worn beneath your tunic. It adds +2 to your COMBAT SKILL.)
Drodarin Bag of Holding (This Backpack Item can be used to store five additional Backpack Items, although the Bag itself occupies only one space.)
‘Sunderer’ (This Drodarin battle-axe is a Special Item. In combat against any enemy it will give you a bonus of +5 to your COMBAT SKILL. You may use this magical axe as an alternative to your existing Kai Weapon.)
If you choose to take and keep any of the above Special Items, make the necessary adjustments to your Action Chart.
To continue, turn to 95.
(I take all three, I move my meals inside the Bag along with the Bor Brew and Tinderbox)