At the end of the hallway you arrive at a flight of metal stairs which ascend to a heavy, bronze-banded door. This sealed door appears to be a recent addition to the vessel; it is secured by a curious combination lock which you recognize to be Drakkarim in design.
The lock comprises three raised blocks, each of which is divided into four equal squares. In each square, except one, there is a number. You have encountered this type of lock before and are aware that by tapping the empty square a correct number of times, you will cause the lock to disengage and the door to open
(Huh, I’m not sure. The pattern in the first two blocks and four rows is the top number +2 is the bottom number. That’s make our missing number 13. But that’s not a 9 after than 7, that’s a 6. So that doesn’t work. Maybe it’s just within a block? So 7 -1 is 6 and 11 -1 is 10? Is the answer 10?) Or it could be 7+4 is 11 across and 6+4 across is 10. So I’m going with 10)
With a dull clunk, the lock disengages and the heavy portal creaks ajar. Immediately you are greeted by a blast of frozen air as you push open the door and step out onto a viewing platform which is fixed to the outer metallic skin of this huge alien submarine. Away to your right you can see a line of ice-boats at anchor at the lake’s edge, and to your left you notice a column of skeletal warriors. These are being led by a black-robed Cabalah, marching in mechanical fashion along a jetty towards the mouth of a tunnel which leads out of the vast ice cavern. Your keen Kai senses tell you that you have arrived in Ixia, and that the distant tunnel leads to the surface.
You commit the position of the ice-boats to memory; if your mission is successful, you will be needing some means by which you can escape from Ixia. Then you carefully observe the area immediately surrounding the submarine, and notice that there are only two ways by which you can reach the distant tunnel—by the adjacent jetty, or by entering the icy waters of the lake and swimming to the shore.
(The jetty might be be guarded, and with my Kai skills, the water should be deal-with-able, so I choose water)
You descend from the submarine’s viewing platform and slip unseen into the frigid lake, thankful that the Platinum Amulet you are wearing is powerful enough to protect your body from the ill-effects of such devastatingly cold water. Rather than risk being seen by a patrolling group of undead warriors, you gulp a lungful of air, dive below the surface, and strike out for the distant shoreline.
(Yes, I have Kai-Alchemy and Sun Thane rank)
During your underwater swim, your higher Kai rank and mastery enables you to use the Brotherhood Spell Breathe Water. This magical spell allows you to absorb oxygen from the icy seawater directly into your bloodstream through the pores of your skin, negating the need to surface repeatedly for air.
In just a few minutes you reach the distant shoreline and break through the surface alongside a shallow stone causeway. Atop this causeway is a track, a spur of which branches off towards the tunnel entrance. With only your head visible above the lake, you cling to the causeway stones and wait patiently for a nearby patrol to march past.
From your hiding place among the boulders you watch the activities of the loathsome undead. The causeway and jetty are teeming with cadaverous soldiers who, under the direction of several spindly, black-clad creatures, are busily transferring materials to and from the ice-boats and the open mouth of the submarine. The tunnel entrance lies only two hundred yards away, yet reaching it without being detected by the enemy looks to be a near-impossible task. You are trying to formulate a plan of action when suddenly you notice a means by which you can achieve your goal.
The track, which branches away from the causeway and leads to the tunnel entrance, passes close beside your hiding place. Every so often a wagon loaded with equipment trundles along this track towards the jetty, and an empty one trundles back. When the next empty wagon appears, you get ready to abandon your hiding place and leap aboard its open tailgate.
Patiently you observe your chosen wagon. It is being hauled by a shaggy, grey-furred beast of burden which is harnessed by heavy leather straps. As it trundles past the boulders you break cover, leap aboard the tail, and hide yourself from sight beneath a greasy, foul-smelling tarpaulin. Through a crack in its ancient wooden planks you watch with trepidation as the wagon moves slowly towards the tunnel entrance. It enters the tunnel, unchallenged by the skeletal warriors who stand guard here, and ascends a gentle gradient to another ice-walled cavern. Several passages connect at this point from all directions, like the spokes of a giant wheel converging at the hub.
An undead Drakkarim soldier steps forward, takes hold of the shaggy beast’s harness, and leads the wagon towards a stockpile of metallic containers. Clearly he intends to load these onto the wagon for transportation back to the submarine. Fearing discovery, you leap from the rear of the moving wagon and hide yourself among a stack of empty wooden crates. From here you observe two possible ways by which you could leave this busy cavern: by an unguarded staircase in the north wall, or through an open archway in the east wall.
(Stairs or archways)