### 170

Using the edge of your cloak, you wipe away a section of the pentagram that is wide enough to let the man escape. You notice that he is painfully thin and unsteady on his feet.

'My thanks Kai Lord. I shall endeavour to repay your kindness some day, if we ever escape from this fortress' he says. 'You had best lead, for my eyes ail me. I have suffered snow-blindness and the pain still lingers on.'

You lead the way into the passage and are about to turn north into the main corridor, when a pair of steely-fingered hands suddenly close around your throat from behind. A hideous cry betrays the merchant's true identity: he is a Helghast, a deadly shape-changing servant of the Darklords. He has tricked you into releasing him from the pentagram, and he now intends to murder you.

You desperately fight for air as his skeletal fingers burn and tear at your throat. You lose 6 ENDURANCE points. If you are still alive, you manage to break free of his grip, but you must now fight this creature to the death. Due to the surprise of its attack, you cannot swallow any potions before the combat.

If you possess the Sommerswerd, turn to 304.

If you do not, turn to 175.

Text copyright © 1984 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1984 Gary Chalk.