271

Moving at a slow trot, you journey into the hills. After travelling for half an hour or so you hear a low murmuring of strange, inhuman voices. As you crest the next hill, you find that you are looking down a gentle slope that leads into a shallow valley. With horror, you see that the floor of the valley is a crawling, writhing mass of demons. Never before have you seen such a damnable pit of diabolic malevolence. Every conceivable distortion of human and animal life waits there, grotesque combinations of many different beasts.

A thousand corrupt faces look up at you where you sit, mounted on the great white stallion, atop the highest ridge of the valley. Even the stolid nerves of the Simar steed are shaken and it stamps and snorts in distress. A sinister moan of disquiet ripples through the ranks of the cursed creatures. It is a dreadful sound. You sway in the saddle, such is the force of such a concentrated pool of evil, all focused upon you. An unconquerable tide of fear wells up inside you.

If your current WILLPOWER total is 20 or more, turn to 284.

If your current WILLPOWER total is less than 20, turn to 44.