### 264

You enter a massive chamber, ill-lit and icy cold: a hidden temple of the Ancients. The floor is made from slabs of quartz and granite and is littered with rock and ice. Your eye follows a line of tall pillars leading towards a sacrificial altar set into an alcove in the northern wall. Upon this altar lies a strange statue, which seems to be carved from smooth white stone. At its head and feet, black staves rest upright in holes bored into the altar stone.

To the left of the altar there is a darkened archway, through which a flight of stairs ascends out of view.

If you wish to cross the temple and advance towards the staircase, turn to 60.

If you wish to cross the temple floor by stepping only on the quartz flagstones, turn to 168.

If you wish to cross the temple by stepping only on the granite flagstones, turn to 244.

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