### 192

You draw your weapon but before you can raise it to strike, a mass of flailing tentacles come snaking towards you, forcing you to retreat towards the pool. Each of these limbs is tipped with a razor-sharp segment of tile which whistles as it cuts the air before your face.

Slowly but relentlessly the octopoid advances, pushing you steadily back towards the rubble-strewn entrance to the chamber. As it draws level with the central pool, you suddenly realize something that had eluded your senses when first you entered this hall. The pool itself contains not water, but a clear, oily fluid . . . a clear, oily, inflammable fluid!

In a moment of vivid realization your Kai senses inform you that this creature is especially vulnerable to fire. Hastily you sheathe your weapon and search instead for something capable of igniting a fire.

If you possess a Lantern, a Torch, or a Tinderbox, turn to 223.

If you do not possess any of these items, turn to 14.

Text copyright © 1991 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1991 Brian Williams.