In the distance you see a dim light flickering and twinkling at the heart of these ice mountains. You strike out towards it, across the frost-encrusted ground, and find yourself covering the distance far quicker than would ever be possible on Magnamund. A mile slips by at a single step and the surrounding terrain becomes impossible to focus on. Suspecting that you are the victim of some powerful illusion, you stride up to the flickering ice wall and thrust your hand against it. Effortlessly, your palm sinks into the glassy blue surface and you fall headlong into the icy mountainside.
You are standing inside a mountain of ice. A dim, blue vista stretches away in every direction, and here the light appears bent and fractured by the myriad frozen facets of the water. You are encased yet you can still move; you are able to stride forwards through the seemingly solid walls as if you are moving through air.
Confidently you walk through the strange and terrible beauty of this crystal world, striding on towards the distant dim, twinkling light that first drew you to the mountains. Slowly the icy vastness begins to change and you see new wonders. There are treasures—veins of gold, raw gemstones, chests of coins, pearls, and rubies. And there are graves and lost tombs, where corpses watch your passing with burning eyes. Their ghastly stares bleed the warmth from your body and leave you shivering with psychic shock: lose 4 ENDURANCE points.
At length you pass beyond the ice and emerge into the shadowy recesses of a vast cavern. Here you discover the source of the light, and in its dim glow, you witness a scene that makes you tremble with fear.
Before you stretches a gigantic cavern. Its walls of ancient obsidian rise to a high-arched roof where hangs a circle of stalactites—twelve huge luminescent spears of lime-green stone. Bathed in their pulsating glow is a many-tiered crystal dais, identical to the one on which Arch Druid Cadak stood before the great shimmering archway at the edge of the Maakengorge. To the right of this dais you see a dark tunnel. The entrance appears like a black semicircular shadow upon the cavern wall.
Standing upon the uppermost tier of the dais is a creature which both mesmerizes and repulses you. It has the semblance of a human female, yet she stands more than twenty feet tall. She is strikingly beautiful but you sense at once that she is also wholly evil. Her skin has a deathly, corpse-like pallor and she is clad in a flowing black costume which trails thin wisps of smoke. Cloaked figures scurry around the lower tiers of the dais, carrying out their mistress’s commands and attending to her every whim. If they fail or displease her she crushes them like lowly insects in her elegant, deadly hands.
You watch in silent fascination as this demonic creature makes preparations, as if for a long journey. Then, in a flash of a sudden realization, you know her purpose. She is getting ready to enter the tunnel, a tunnel which will transport her to the archway at the edge of the Maakengorge. She is the deliverer of Vashna of whom Cadak spoke, the one who will raise the spirit of Lord Vashna from the Chasm of Doom!
Suddenly you are aware that someone is standing behind you. Instantly, you unsheathe your weapon and spin around to face them, half-expecting to see the grotesque face of a demonic minion. Instead, you find yourself looking into the impish face of a young, teenage girl.
The young woman smiles at you and begins to laugh.
‘You can’t harm me, Lone Wolf,’ she says, full of confidence. ‘You may as well sheathe that weapon for now, though you’ll be needing it later I fancy.’
‘Who are you? What do you want?’ you hiss, still clutching your weapon defensively. ‘Are you some cursed illusion, some mind-trick of Naar’s sent to entrap me? Well, demon, maybe this will wipe the smile off your face.’
You strike the young woman a savage blow to the head but to no effect. She laughs again and says, with a mocking tone, ‘Now do you believe me?’
You back away, looking to either side for a way of escaping this creature, but there is none. She advances, and you regard her with fearful caution. She is wearing a worn leather jerkin and ragged trousers which are cut short at the knees, and does not appear to be armed with a weapon.
‘You should be more respectful,’ she says. ‘After all, if I should decide to leave, who’ll keep you hidden from the gaze of Shamath?’ She points to the giant Demoness to illustrate who she means. ‘Trinket or no,’ she continues, motioning to the Platinum Amulet you wear, ‘you wouldn’t last long against her without my help.’
‘What do you want from me?’ you reply, uneasily.
‘Your attention would be a good start. Strange as it may seem, I wish to help you, Lone Wolf.’
(I do not have Telegnosis)
‘Very well,’ you say. ‘How do you intend to help me?’
The young woman begins by confirming your suspicions. The Demoness Shamath is indeed preparing to go to the Maakengorge in response to Cadak’s summons. She will make the journey by entering the tunnel; it is a Shadow Gate which will transport her from this plane of existence to Magnamund, to the great shimmering archway through which you were hurled by the storm. She will take with her an artefact of great evil—the Deathstaff—a device forged by the Dark God Naar himself and imbued with the power to resurrect the spirit of his long-lost champion, Lord Vashna, from the depths of the Chasm of Doom.
‘Naar has laboured long and hard to create the Deathstaff,’ says the young woman. She points once more towards the crystal dais and says, ‘Can you see, Lone Wolf? It is there, resting beside Shamath’s feet.’
You look towards the dais and see a staff of twisted black metal. Its six-foot length looks insignificant lying beside the huge, booted foot of the Demoness.
‘The time has nearly come for the transference,’ says the young woman. ‘Shamath must be stopped, and only you can stop her.’
‘But how?’ you reply, bemused.
‘Simple! You must steal the Deathstaff and enter the Shadow Gate before her. Use the staff to destroy Cadak’s crystal dais—this will close the gate and prevent the Demoness from entering Magnamund. But I warn you, Lone Wolf. You will have precious little time to accomplish this, so do not delay once you return to your world. You must destroy Cadak’s dais as quickly as possible or Shamath will get through. She has great strength and power here, but on Magnamund her powers would make her invincible.’
The young woman looks over her shoulder, as if she is being pursued by some invisible hunter. ‘I wish I could help you more, Lone Wolf,’ she says, anxiously, ‘but I have my own battle to fight. Be brave, Grand Master, but most of all—be swift!’
And with these words she begins to fade before your eyes. The moment she vanishes completely, the cavern echoes to a deafening roar. It is the angry cry of Shamath. She has seen you!