### 196

With bated breath you tiptoe past the alcove, your weapon unsheathed and held ready in case the sleeping creature should awaken. Fortunately, your Kai skills serve you well and you are able to reach the archway and leave the hall without incident.

A short passage leads to a junction where a wider corridor crosses from left to right. Your skin prickles in reaction to the concentration of evil you detect in this subterranean part of Mogaruith, and silently you call upon your creator, the noble god Kai, for protection and guidance before continuing.

Instinct prompts you to turn left, and within a few minutes you arrive at a chamber where a vast staircase of black marble ascends to many levels, lost in the gloom above. Opposite this grand staircase stands a large door, carved from a solid sheet of strange green metal, the like of which you have never seen before. It gives off a pulsating radiance which washes over the empty chamber, illuminating symbols carved into the walls and floor. You focus on these symbols and, in a chilling moment of realization, you decipher their meaning.

Turn to 300.

Text copyright © 1990 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1990 Brian Williams.