### 19

As the name leaves your lips, the tip of the crystal shard glows bright amber. Instantly the guard reaches for a lever in the wall, and before you can prevent him, he pulls it, setting an alarm bell clanging. In a matter of seconds, the courtyard is awash with a nightmare legion of snarling, screaming, snapping horrors. They fall upon you, and although you slay many, they overpower you eventually and haul you in chains before Darklord Gnaag. With cruel glee, he orders you to be cast into the Lake of Blood, where your endless suffering will feed its unholy flames for all eternity.

Tragically, on the threshold of victory, your natural life and mission end here.

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