### 174

Night has fallen swiftly, but there is a full moon by which to see. It pierces the darkness and bathes the landscape in its ghostly, ashen light. The tide bears you swiftly towards a shingle beach that is littered with huge, sea-smoothed boulders. The crashing surf and the screech of predatory seabirds echo all along this barren coastline. It is an unwelcoming sound, cold and hostile, a fitting reflection of the land itself.

Ten yards from the stony beach, you slip into the thigh-deep foam and wade ashore. Although you can see no sign of enemy patrols, you keep your head low as you scurry up the beach towards the base of a sheer cliff wall. By chance you happen upon a narrow path that clings precariously to the side of the cliff-face as it zig-zags its way to the top. The climb is long and arduous, and by the time you reach the summit the weather has taken a turn for the worse. An icy, rain-laden wind whips inland from the sea. Its chilling bite is accompanied by sheet lightning that illuminates the landscape before you. The blue-white flashes reveal a vast, dead world of pitted spurs and crags, where every tree is petrified and every rock looks like a dead man's skull. You pull your cape close about your shoulders and set off towards a ridge that is peppered with dark hollows, hoping that one of them will offer some shelter from the coming storm.

Upon reaching the ridge, you discover that most of the hollows are merely patches of dark earth sandwiched between the honeycombed rock. The rain has become torrential, and you are beginning to abandon all hope of finding dry shelter, when suddenly your tracking instincts alert you to a cave-like opening at the far end of the ridge. You investigate and discover that it is indeed the entrance to a cave, one that is both wind and water tight and, to your relief, quite empty. You are now very hungry and must eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

If you have the Magnakai Disciplines of Animal Control and Divination, turn to 234.

If you do not possess both these skills, turn to 307.

Text copyright © 1988 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1988 Brian Williams.