97

You tell Tanith that you have decided to help the Masbaté and start down the slope. Reluctantly she follows. You reach the man and begin untying the ropes that bind his wrists and ankles. He mutters his thanks in a faint voice and, with your help, he half-crawls, half-stumbles towards the lake, where he begins to drink thirstily. You and Tanith do the same, quenching your day-old thirst with relish.

The Masbaté’s name is Kuna. He tells you that he was captured while fishing alone on the banks of the Dolani River, by a number of the demons that still roam the Lissan Plain. He has lain bound since that time.

‘The hellspawn knew that my Masbaté brothers would come for me and hoped to trap them in the narrow confines of this enclosed region. But tell me, who are you? Why are you here?’ he asks.

Before you can reply, Tanith shouts a warning. Her face is horror-stricken. You turn around, barely able to suppress a shocked gasp at what you see. A ring of grisly beasts lines the curving slope before you in a wide semicircle. ‘This is the demon plague,’ you whisper.

The steady croon of hellish voices grows as the evil horde gloats at the utter hopelessness of your position. You are enclosed by a force that numbers almost a hundred. With a terrible cry, a pack of demons rushes towards you. Each of the creatures has a different but equally misshapen form. Some are like strange toad beasts; others are malformed apes with stunted limbs and a shambling gait. The leader of the pack is a large, slimy reptile with a tortured human face. Only moments remain before the pack of demons is upon you.

If you wish to fire with your Wizard’s Staff at the leader of the pack in a long-range attack, turn to 288.

If you wish to stand and receive the charge, turn to 82.